Global death toll from SARS hits 100

GUANGZHOU, China -- The worldwide death toll from the new mystery illness that began in this southern Chinese province hit 100 on Monday as medical investigators explored whether the virus may have come from animals.

Chinese government officials reported the disease had actually spread farther than they initially reported -- the latest new disclosure from a government that for months kept news of the disease secret.

Just to the east of this city in Guangdong province, where experts believe the disease originated, Hong Kong's already struggling hospitals were bracing for as many as 3,000 patients -- more than quadruple the current number.

China's death toll from severe acute respiratory syndrome rose to 53 on Monday, as government officials disclosed that deaths from the disease came from three new provinces: Shanxi in the north, Sichuan in the west and Hunan in central China. The Health Ministry press office said it had no details on when the infections or deaths occurred.

The report came as World Health Organization medical experts investigated possible animal connections to the virus. Experts have linked SARS to a new form of coronavirus, which causes the common cold and produces other strains in animals.

The WHO experts haven't found any evidence yet to support an animal link, said team leader Dr. Robert Breiman. He said they had discussed both farm animals and wildlife, including pigs, ducks, bats, rodents, chickens and other birds.

"The discussions today were inconclusive, so we really don't have clues," Breiman said.

Preparing for worst

The disease has hit the mainland and Hong Kong the hardest. The former British colony's Hospital Authority said it was preparing for a worst-case scenario of 3,000 patients by the end of the month.

On Sunday, Dr. Lo Wing-lok, an infectious disease expert and lawmaker, said Hong Kong's hospitals are only equipped to handle about 1,500 SARS patients.

But Hospital Authority chairman, Dr. Leong Che-hung, has said Hong Kong would be able to care for up to 3,000 SARS patients by the end of April.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of the hard-hit Prince of Wales Hospital joined the latest group of health care workers to be stricken with the disease, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday. The hospital treated the first case of SARS in Hong Kong, and dozens of its staff have become ill.

Hospital executive Dr. Fung Hong was in stable condition, said spokeswoman Fion Fung.

The dire outlook for an exploding caseload was suggested by Deputy Health Director Dr. Leung Pak-yin. He said officials were concerned about 24 "sporadic" patients who became infected in ways officials have yet to determine.

If any of those patients has been highly contagious, as a few SARS sufferers have been, Hong Kong could face another worrisome outbreak of the disease "if we are not doing our protection well," Leung told a news conference. "So we must be careful."

The 100th death from the disease involved a 78-year-old woman in Hong Kong, where 41 new cases of the disease were reported Monday. The territory has suffered 23 deaths and says more than 880 people are sick with the flu-like illness.

China's death toll includes Pekka Aro, a 53-year-old International Labor Organization official who died Sunday in a Beijing hospital.

The Beijing ILO office was closed Monday, and an employee of the diplomatic office building said health workers had started disinfecting it Friday after Aro fell ill. The ILO staff in Beijing were quarantined, said Tom Netter, an agency spokesman in Geneva.