Sars scare hits Asian economies

ASIA'S economies went on Sars alert today after confirmation that a Taiwanese medical researcher had come down with the deadly bug.

The scare agitated the region's stock markets, dampened the mood in European trading, and comes after repeated warnings from leading health experts that the virus could reappear with the onset of winter weather.

However, Taiwanese authorities said the unnamed 44-year-old man had probably contracted Sars after studying the little-understood bug carelessly in a laboratory.

If accurate, that suggests there is less chance the virus could spread to the wider population.

'The patient had an accident in his lab on 5 December,' a Taiwanese official told reporters.

Stung by the dramatic impact of Sars last March and April, many Asian governments were taking no chances and rushed to reintroduce stringent health checks as a preliminary safeguard. Singapore quarantined 70 people.

The inaugural outbreak of Sars proved to be the biggest economic challenge faced by Asia since the financial crisis of the late 1990s.

More than 800 people worldwide died before it was brought under control, with billions of dollars in damage to many of the region's economies, especially Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Drugs giant GlaxoSmith-Kline and Institut Pasteur today signed a deal to hunt jointly for a Sars vaccine.