Hong Kong, Apr 01: A deadly pneumonia outbreak that has killed at least 62 people and infected some 1,700 more could be spread through the air, making it far more contagious than previously thought, a senior US health official told a private TV channel today. “Under certain circumstances, at least, it may be airborne,” said Dr Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control in the US. Health officials previously said that they believed Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was transmitted by coming into contact with “droplets” from a sneezing or coughing patient. “We are seeing large outbreaks, for example in an apartment complex in Hong Kong, where airborne transmission certainly is a possibility,” Gerberding said. Meanwhile, livestock in southern China may be the source of the mysterious virus, sources close to the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today.

“WHO is working on a theory that the virus has its source in farm animals in southern China,” a source from the Geneva-based body told a news agency in Manila.

“In some areas in Guangdong province in southern China, people just live neck to jaw with animals -- pigs, chickens, ducks are everywhere,” the source said.

Scientists have already ruled out a link between SARS and bird flu, also a viral disease highly contagious to chickens, ducks, turkeys and other birds but not dangerous to other animals and humans.

Bureau Report