Scientists may have identified the SARS virus which has killed more than 90 people worldwide, says the head of the World Health Organisation.
WHO secretary-general Gro Harlem Brundtland said on Sunday that laboratory tests indicated the virus behind Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) belonged to the corona family that also causes the common cold.
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"If we are lucky now and we have found the right virus, which the laboratories seem now more and more to feel they have - the type of corona virus..."
"So hopefully this intense effort will pay off," said Ms Brundtland, who is visiting India.
She added however that she had no idea how long it would take to control the outbreak.
Scientists have been struggling to identify the virus as a first crucial step towards trying to control its spread.
She said international cooperation was needed to fight SARS, adding that China, where the outbreak started late last year, should have shared information
much earlier.
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The Chinese moves toward openness come after foreign criticism of the communist government's reluctance to release information about SARS.
http://www.circleofasia.com/News.asp?nID=20_____________________________________________
It was known that SARS virus struck a part of Mainland China years ago. And the authority had hid this truth from the public.
Every 10 years or so, a pandemic spreads out from China and surrounding countries. The 'Asian flu' of 1957 claimed 98 000 lives worldwide, and the 'Hong Kong flu' of 1968 an additional 45 000 lives.
What were they thinking???

Did they have the intention of hiding the truth?

Or was it just coincidental? Virus re-mutation?