SARS impossible to contain, says WHO

A MYSTERY respiratory virus which has claimed more than 90 lives may be carried by people without symptoms, making it impossible to contain.

The warning has come from the World Health Organisation's (WHO) infectious diseases chief, Dr David Heymann, who said that finding a treatment or vaccine for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) would take a long time.

"If there are people who have the virus and don't show symptoms, we are lost, because that would mean it had spread throughout the world, as it is easily contracted.

"That was how AIDS was transmitted before it was discovered. We still don't know if this is the case, that's why we need a test," Dr Heymann said.

Experts in 11 laboratories across the world are working on developing a test for the pneumonia-like virus, which has infected more than 2,600 people.

In Ireland, one probable case of SARS remains, another suspected case in Dublin has been discounted.

Public Health doctors, due to strike next week, have warned the virus poses a potential threat to the Special Olympics. Dr Joe Barry, the incoming president of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said the organisers of the event and the delegations coming here needed to be informed that there was a potential risk to Ireland from SARS and that the 24-hour medical system required to deal with it was not in place.

More than 160 international delegations, 7,000 athletes and 28,000 family and friends, including delegations from Canada and South East Asia, which have had major SARS outbreaks, will attend the June Olympics.

Dr Barry said Ireland was not meeting its international obligations in dealing with SARS.

Authorities at both Shannon Airport in Co Clare and at the Mid-Western Regional hospital in Limerick, are in the process of developing a protocol for the management of suspected SARS cases in the mid-west region. It includes distributing information leaflets and posting signs in Shannon telling passengers what to doand where to do in the event of a suspected SARS case.

In Britain, the latest probable case of the deadly virus, a woman who arrived from Singapore last month, is improving in hospital, a government spokeswoman said yesterday.

She arrived in Britain on March 25 but did not show symptoms during her flight, so health authorities did not think it necessary to contact other passengers.

Three other people in Britain with probable SARS have been treated and released from hospital.

A Finnish man died in Beijing from the virus yesterday, taking the number of deaths in China's capital to four. Pekke Aro, 53, arrived in Beijing from Thailand on March 23 to attend an international labour conference. He came down with a fever five days later and was admitted to hospital on April 2 with coughing, breathing problems and diarrhoea.

SARS causes fever and a dry cough and breathing difficulty.