Australian state steps up SARS fight

Australia’s most populous state has added Sars to a list of dangerous, communicable diseases, meaning people who might have the deadly virus can be fined or jailed for up to six months if they refuse treatment.

Nine-hundred spare hospital beds have also been made ready in New South Wales in case of a major outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).

Australia has only reported four possible Sars infections and has so far been relatively untouched by the disease which has killed more than 250 people worldwide, most of them in Hong Kong and mainland China.

New South Wales state officials have now listed Sars with typhoid and tuberculosis as a category four medical condition, meaning health officials can force suspected sufferers to receive tests and treatment – and place them in quarantine.

Patients who refuse to be isolated can be fined or sent to prison for up to six months.

Meanwhile, the Australian developers of a breakthrough influenza drug have said they will join forces with American researchers to find a treatment for Sars.

Biota Holdings developed the inhaled flu drug Relenza in collaboration with the CSIRO and GSK.

It became the first of a new generation of influenza drugs known as neuraminidase inhibitors, which work by blocking the action of viral enzymes.

The bad news, Biota research director Simon Tucker said, is that Relenza is unlikely to be any use against Sars, which is caused by a completely different virus to the flu.