Mystery illness shuts 2nd Canada hospital

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TORONTO - Health officials closed a second Toronto-area hospital to new patients and asked hundreds of its employees to quarantine themselves as a deadly flu-like illness continued to spread worldwide.

Anyone who has worked at York Central Hospital since March 16 has been asked to stay in their homes for 10 days to try to contain the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, hospital president Frank Lussing said Saturday. The hospital has 1,800 employees.

The disease has killed three people in Canada and caused authorities to advise thousands of people in Toronto, the largest city, to quarantine themselves at home. Worldwide, the disease has killed at least 54 people and sickened nearly 1,500.

U.S. health officials said Saturday that none of the antiviral drugs and other treatment they have tested are effective against SARS.

On Saturday, the disease killed Dr. Carlo Urbani, the World Health Organization doctor who was the first to identify the latest outbreak when it appeared in Vietnam.