Sars: More than one cause?

2003-04-20 18:00

Montreal - The corona virus identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as giving rise to severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), may not be the only cause of the disease, Canadian heath officials said on Sunday.

"We have only identified the corona virus in 50% of the people being treated for Sars," health ministry spokesperson Paul Gully told the Sunday edition of the Montreal newspaper La Presse.

"We have a slightly less optimistic vision than the WHO, and it is still too early to talk of a medicine or a vaccine which might slow the spread of Sars," said Gully, who is also a medical doctor.

Gully's comments were based on the analysis by a Winnipeg microbiology laboratory of samples taken from Canadian Sars sufferers, La Presse said.

Outside Asia, where Sars originated, Canada has been the country worst affected by the atypical and deadly strain of pneumonia.

On Wednesday, the WHO announced a corona virus previously known in animals but never observed in humans to be the cause of Sars.

Corona viruses also cause the common cold.

- AFX