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TORONTO/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Asian health ministers called on Saturday for checks on all departing passengers at airports to halt the spread of SARS, while the World Health Organization said it may consider dropping a bitterly contested travel warning against Toronto. As Toronto recorded its 20th death in its battle against SARS on Saturday, the WHO told Canadian television that it will review Canada's situation on Tuesday on whether to lift the warning against nonessential travel to Canada's biggest city. "There is a chance the advisory could be changed," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson told CBC television. The WHO announced on...

The worldwide SARS death toll continued to climb on Saturday as a leading British expert warned the mortality rate from the mysterious disease could be double that suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Canada recorded its 20th death, a 77-year-old man from Ontario province, casting doubt on official comments that the outbreak is under control. Six deaths in Hong Kong and Singapore's 19th fatality were among 15 fatalities in Asia, bringing the global toll to 292. As US President George W Bush offered to help beat the epidemic in China, where drastic measures are being taken to halt the...

The death rate for Sars could be significantly higher than previously thought, according to an British expert's study into the pneumonia-like virus. The research by Professor Roy Anderson, due to be published in a medical journal next week, is expected to say the virus could kill between 8% and 15% - or one in seven - of those infected. The World Health Organization (WHO) had predicted a death rate of 5% to 6% and said the virus could be beaten if countries worked together to stop it spreading. A WHO spokesman said Professor Anderson was a top class professional and...

BERLIN--As the case toll climbed steadily toward 4000 earlier this week, scientists chasing the SARS outbreak conceded that their hopes for eradicating the disease were fading. Instead, they are asking how far and how fast severe acute respiratory syndrome will spread and whether it can be contained in relatively small outbreaks. At this point, epidemiologists say they simply don't know. "It does seem unlikely that containment measures are going to succeed in driving this virus to extinction," says epidemiologist David Earn of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who is working on mathematical models of the outbreak. "If that's the case,...

The death rate for Sars could be significantly higher than previously thought, an expert study into the pneumonia-like virus is expected to suggest. The research by a British scientist, due to be published in a medical journal next week, is expected to say the virus could kill between 8% and 15% - or one in seven - of those infected. The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently predicting a death rate of 5% to 6% and has insisted the virus could still be beaten if countries worked together to stop it from spreading. The WHO said its estimate was more...

SARS much more deadly than first estimated 13:43 25 April 03 NewScientist.com news service Analysis of the latest statistics on the global SARS epidemic reveals that at least 10 per cent of people who contract the new virus will die of the disease. The low death rates of about four per cent cited until now by the World Health Organization and others are the result of a statistical difficulty, well known to epidemiologists, that hampers the early analysis of new disease outbreaks. This difficulty is the reason for the apparent rise in death rate - not a change in the...

The World Health Organization has released new information about who SARS kills and how long it takes to develop, while US health officials say overall there is no evidence the virus is changing or becoming deadlier in any way. The WHO said the death rate, previously estimated at between 6 percent and 10 percent, now ranged up to 50 percent depending on who fell ill. "On the basis of more detailed and complete data, and more reliable methods, WHO now estimates that the case fatality ratio of SARS ranges from 0 percent to 50 percent depending on the age group...

7 May 2003 Case fatality ratio WHO has today revised its initial estimates of the case fatality ratio of SARS. The revision is based on an analysis of the latest data from Canada, China, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, and Viet Nam. On the basis of more detailed and complete data, and more reliable methods, WHO now estimates that the case fatality ratio of SARS ranges from 0% to 50% depending on the age group affected, with an overall estimate of case fatality of 14% to 15%. The likelihood of dying from SARS in a given area has been shown...