Labs close in on deadly Sars virus

Stuff 07 April 2003

NEW DELI: Scientists may have identified the deadly respiratory virus which has killed more than 90 people and this could help control its spread, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

Gro Harlem Brundtland, secretary-general of the UN's health agency, said laboratory tests indicated the virus behind Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) belonged to the corona family that also causes the common cold.

"So hopefully this intense effort will pay off," she said yesterday, adding however that she had no idea how long it would take to control the outbreak.

Scientists have been struggling to identify the virus as a first crucial step towards trying to control its spread.

Brundtland said international cooperation was needed to battle the flu-like disease and added that China, where the outbreak started late last year, should have shared information much earlier.

The Chinese government has come under fire for a lack of transparency over the disease which has spread around the world, killing more than 90 people and infecting almost 2600.

"I think we are now seeing good collaboration but of course it would have been helpful if we had been able at an early stage to gain access and send the WHO team in."

A team of WHO experts is in Guangdong, which accounts for an overwhelming majority of the total number of deaths and infections in China, to investigate the outbreak.

"We were earlier into Hong Kong then into Guangdong. Now I think the channels are open," she said.

She said it was difficult to say how long it would take to control the disease.

"I wouldn't dare to guess. What we can do is use the expertise worldwide and do whatever is possible," she said, adding that in some countries the governments had acted swiftly and effectively.

"What we can see is that in some of the places where a lot of effort has come in to contain, limit the spread, isolate and deal with the cases...the result has been quite positive."

Symptoms of SARS include a fever above 38 degrees Celsius, aches, coughing and breathing difficulty.

"There could be a number of other people who are really symptomless and who don't really know," she said, but added that such people were not likely to spread the virus.

"Usually in these kind of viruses, it is those who are sick who are the ones that spread."

The virus spreads through droplets by sneezing or coughing, according to WHO, but they have not ruled out the possibility of the virus being airborne.