Flu virus to be ID'd soon

<a href=news.com.au From correspondents in Manila, Philippines March 31, 2003

INTERNATIONAL health experts expect to identify within days the virus causing the mysterious, flu-like disease that is spreading fast in parts of Asia, although finding a specific treatment may take more time, a UN health official said.

"I think we can identify the causative agent in quite a short time period. We think probably within a few days, at most a few weeks," said Hitoshi Oshitani, the World Health Organisation coordinator for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

"But this doesn't mean we will find the specific treatment for this disease within the short time period," he told a news conference.

Researchers suspect the disease - which Oshitani called "the most significant outbreak that has been spread through air travel in history" - was caused by the paramyxovirus or the coronavirus.

Oshitani said the virus causing the new disease apparently came from an animal.