Sars identified as Beijing covers up scores of cases

The identity of the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) has been confirmed in one of the quickest pieces of scientific detective work on record, the World Health Organisation announced yesterday.

Less than two months after the new disease was recognised and the world alerted to its threat, Dutch scientists at Erasmus University in Rotterdam provided the last link in the chain of detection by demonstrating that monkeys infected with the suspect virus developed the same symptoms seen in humans.

The result proved that the cause of Sars is a member of the coronavirus family, a cause of the common cold, never found before in humans.

The finding was announced on the day eight more deaths were reported in Asia, bringing the global toll to at least 162 dead and more than 3,300 infected. Three babies were among the latest suspected victims in Hong Kong yesterday, born to mothers with Sars.

A WHO team investigating the outbreak in Beijing suggested the true number of cases in the city could be up to 200, more than five times the officially declared total of 37. The disclosure will add to fears that China is concealing the extent of the disease and putting the rest of the world at risk.

Yesterday, Klaus Stohr, co-ordinator of WHO's network of 13 laboratories in 10 countries, paid tribute to the scientists who had "put aside profit and prestige" to work to identify the virus. "In this globalised world, such collaboration is the only way forward in tackling emerging diseases."

David Heymann, executive director of communicable disease at WHO, said the pace of Sars research had been "astounding" and the identification of the virus meant scientists could now move "aggressively" towards developing treatments and vaccination.

In Hong Kong, doctors said three babies delivered by Caesarean section after their mothers became ill with Sars were showing signs of the disease. But the infection had not been confirmed and the doctors warned that the babies' premature births might be complicating their condition. One mother died soon after the birth. The two others were in hospital. Doctors are alarmed by the outbreak in a housing estate in the Kowloon area, where more than 300 people have been infected and appear to have a more toxic form of the disease. About 60 per cent have diarrhoea, a symptom not seen in other victims, and 20 per cent have succumbed to serious illness, twice the rate in other parts of the city.

In China, Alan Schnur, head of the WHO office in Beijing, said after a visit to the city's military hospitals that the authorities had not reported the extent of the outbreak. Asked how many cases Beijing had, compared with the 37 officially declared, he said: "I would guess the range would be between 100 and 200."