LONDON (Reuters) - The SARS virus which has triggered panic across the world could be more deadly but less contagious than previously thought, a leading medical expert said on Saturday.
Professor Roy Anderson, an authority on infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said he feared the virus -- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -- was killing around 10 percent of those infected.
Anderson's findings, to be published next week in a medical journal, are based on figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) but arrive at slightly different conclusions.
"If one looks carefully at the WHO figures on mortality and recovery rates, it is running, unfortunately, at 10 percent," Anderson told BBC Radio.
The WHO has said the syndrome, which spreads via coughs and sneezes but can also be transmitted by touching contaminated objects, has a death rate of around six percent.
Anderson said his study of around 1,400 SARS victims from Hong Kong suggested the virus was more difficult to pass from one person to another than had been feared.
"This is not a highly transmissible infection," he said. "It's been effectively contained in most of the developed countries in the world with a very limited number of cases, Britain being a good example."
SARS has killed at least 289 people worldwide and infected around five thousand since it emerged in southern China late last year. It has no known cure and has been carried to more than 20 countries by air travelers.
The disease has caused widespread alarm in mainland China and Hong Kong.
China recorded seven new deaths on Saturday, taking the toll reported to 122, with around three thousand cases, while Hong Kong raised its fatality count by six to 121, with 1,527 cases.
Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
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Professor Roy Anderson, an authority on infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said he feared the virus -- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -- was killing around 10 percent of those infected.
Anderson's findings, to be published next week in a medical journal, are based on figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) but arrive at slightly different conclusions.
"If one looks carefully at the WHO figures on mortality and recovery rates, it is running, unfortunately, at 10 percent," Anderson told BBC Radio.
The WHO has said the syndrome, which spreads via coughs and sneezes but can also be transmitted by touching contaminated objects, has a death rate of around six percent.
Anderson said his study of around 1,400 SARS victims from Hong Kong suggested the virus was more difficult to pass from one person to another than had been feared.
"This is not a highly transmissible infection," he said. "It's been effectively contained in most of the developed countries in the world with a very limited number of cases, Britain being a good example."
SARS has killed at least 289 people worldwide and infected around five thousand since it emerged in southern China late last year. It has no known cure and has been carried to more than 20 countries by air travelers.
The disease has caused widespread alarm in mainland China and Hong Kong.
China recorded seven new deaths on Saturday, taking the toll reported to 122, with around three thousand cases, while Hong Kong raised its fatality count by six to 121, with 1,527 cases.
Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
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