SCIENTISTS searching for a cure for severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) have suffered a setback after finding that the virus blamed for the potentially fatal disease was not present in most patients taken ill.

The World Health Organisation announced last week that the corona virus — responsible for the common cold — was at the root of the epidemic of a virulent strain of pneumonia. But Dr Frank Plummer, scientific director of the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, refuted the claim yesterday afterweeks of intensive research into the disease that has killed 14 people in Toronto.

“Only 40 per cent of the people with what we call Sars have the corona virus. We have found no other virus but the connection between Sars and corona is actually very weak,” he said.

A WHO spokesman said that it was aware of the Canadian findings and was investigating. Dick Thompson, for the WHO, said that in previous tests carried out for the organisation the corona virus had been present in 90 per cent of all cases. “For now, we stand by our view that the corona virus is the cause, but what we need to investigate is why we have this anomaly in Canada,” he said. “One possibility is that it has been present in all the cases but is simply not being picked up at the time of testing. All the cases in Canada came from one infected person. We need to see if the virus has mutated.”

On April 16, Dr Klaus Stohr, of the WHO, released the results of a series of experiments on monkeys infected with Sars. “We can now say with all confidence that the causative agent of Sars is the corona virus first detected in Hong Kong on March 21,” he said. But Dr Marc-André Beaulieu, senior medical adviser with Health Canada, said that all scientists and government departments working on Sars should now be “more prudent”.

The announcement by Canadian officials came as researchers in British Columbia claimed to be doing a trial of a test for Sars on patients with suspected or probable symptoms of the disease. The researchers said that they were making progress and hoped to have a test available to the public within weeks.

But Dr Beaulieu said: “In order to develop a good diagnostic test you have to have a clear definition of the cause. For us this means we now have to be more prudent. We are saying that we would prefer to have a much more clear understanding of what causes the disease.”

The revelations from Health Canada coincided with an emergency meeting between Canadian health officials and senior officials from the American Centres for Disease Control. American officials have become increasingly worried about the spread of Sars over the US-Canadian border. Travellers to Toronto are being asked to monitor their health while in the city and during the ten days after their return.

• A Briton may have died from the virus after returning to Wales from a holiday in Thailand. Tests are being conducted to see if a 33-year-old man who died at his home in Pontypridd, South Wales, had the virus.

  Staff at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, in Llantrisant, are taking steps to prevent any spread of the contagious disease if the result is positive.

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