SARS death toll exceeds 100

SEVERE Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has claimed over 100 lives worldwide, but scientists still do not know how the virus is spreading.

The latest official tally shows 2,671 cases and 103 deaths in 17 countries.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) field team which yesterday completed a six-day investigation in Guangdong province in southern China, where the SARS outbreak began, will present its findings at a press conference in Beijing today.

Dr Mike Ryan, who is co-ordinating the WHO's Global Alert and Response team in Geneva, said they had tracked the development of the disease and transmission patterns.

He would not speculate on the team's findings, and said the outbreak would "definitely require further investigation". The SARS situation appeared to be under control in China and Hong Kong, but there were still new cases every day and health authorities could not be complacent, he said.

"We only need one sick patient without proper containment and we could have another mini-outbreak."

He found it "very hard to believe" a rumour that cockroaches could have spread the virus in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's Deputy Director of Health Leung Pak-yin speculated this week that the hardy insects may have carried the virus from flat to flat in an apartment block in the Amoy Gardens in Kowloon, where the disease infected 300 residents in just a few days.

The cases left health officials baffled as many of the residents had not been in contact with anyone who had the virus.

WHO scientists have said the most likely transmission route is through droplets of mucus spread by coughing and sneezing, but that environmental factors like , such as air conditioning or sewerage systems may have been involved Scientists have identified a new form of the corona virus which is part of the same family of viruses behind the common cold as the cause of SARS. But the symptoms can be much more serious, in some cases leading to a collapse of lung function and death. Meanwhile, doctors in the east of England are testing a man who is believed to be the fifth suspected British SARS case. He had returned from Taiwan on March 29. There is currently one probable SARS case in Ireland.