Experts find evidence of animal link to SARS

World Health Organisation experts said today they had found “very good evidence” in China suggesting an animal link to the SARS infection, uncovering traces of the virus in the restaurant where a suspected patient worked and civet cats were served.

But Dr Robert Breiman also said that severe acute respiratory syndrome should not be considered an immediate public health threat in China – a reassurance pivotal in its timing, days before hundreds of millions of people begin travelling around the country for the Chinese New Year.