H7N9 case in Taiwan leaked by doctor's post that went 'viral'
Huang Tien-ju and Staff Reporter 2013-04-26 10:42
Airport staff measure the body temperature of a passenger arriving at Taoyuan Airport. (Photo/Kao Hsing-yu)
The first case of H7N9 bird flu infection in Taiwan became known to the public because an internet user, suspected to be a doctor at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, left a note on a social networking site alleging that a patient may have contracted the virus, a note which swiftly went "viral."
The country's Central Epidemic Command Center promptly summoned the national media to deny the report, only to admit at a press conference three hours later that the patient, a 53-year-old man who does business in eastern China's Jiangsu province, had been been confirmed as Taiwan's first imported case of the new bird flu strain.
An internet user going by the online handle "Oxytocin" claimed to have had a premonition about the news, saying, "I had a dream that Taiwan's biggest hospital already had a patient who had contracted H7N9, and that there would be a press conference about it that afternoon."
The first press conference held by the Central Epidemic Command Center at 2 pm on Wednesday denied rumors of a patient with H7N9, and urged the media not to believe what is said on the internet.
Another press conference at 5:30 pm held by the Centers for Disease Control however acknowledged the H7N9 patient National Taiwan University Hospital, saying the virus had been confirmed that afternoon and furthermore that people spreading false information would be subject to fines, in accordance with the Law on the Control of Communicable Diseases.
