IT MAY be possible to catch the Sars virus simply by touching a contaminated table top, lift button, or doorknob, rather than being directly exposed to the sneeze or cough of a patient, scientists believe.

Experiments show that Sars can survive for at least 24 hours on surfaces, and for several days in human waste. The data, due to be published on the World Health Organisation website, helps to explain how Sars has infected some patients without direct contact.

Studies in Germany have found that ordinary detergents are ineffective against the virus, while Japanese laboratories have found that it can survive indefinitely at freezing point.

Klaus Stohr, a scientist with WHO’s communicable disease surveillance and response team, said evidence is emerging that the virus can survive as long as four days in the diarrhoea of infected patients. This is seen as a clue to the outbreak in a 33-storey apartment block in Amoy Gardens, Hong Kong. A man with Sars visited the block and used his brother’s lavatory. Investigators found a tiny crack in a sewage pipe in the block and speculated that droplets that became airborne from the leak could have contaminated the air.

Many Chinese have long suspected that Sars could be spread via hard surfaces and have taken various precautions. In Hong Kong, cleaners in many skyscrapers are sticking clear plastic over the buttons in lifts and changing them every hour to minimize infection risk.

Globally, according to WHO, Sars has infected 6,234 people and killed 435.

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