Young People Predominate in Latest Sars Deaths

Another seven people have died from Sars in Hong Kong, raising the country's death toll from the virus to 47 and the global figure to 140.

What has surprised doctors in Hong Kong, though, is that six of the people who died recently were relatively young with no other illnesses. Until now, many of the fatalities have been elderly people or patients suffering from other chronic health problems, such as heart or kidney diseases.

Doctors in Hong Kong have begun prescribing heavier doses of medicine during the early stages of Sars - severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Prior to the most recent deaths, Hong Kong officials had said that most patients without aggravating health conditions seemed to respond well to a treatment of anti-viral drugs and steroids.

The acting director of Hong Kong's hospital authority, Dr Ko Wing-man, warned of the potentially severe side effects of increasing doses of medicine for heart, blood and kidney problems.

The senior executive manager of the hospital authority, Dr Liu Shao-haei, said on Monday that some of the younger patients were hospitalised when they were already in a serious condition, and their health worsened even after they received intensive care.

Despite efforts to find an effective treatment for the disease, an expert expressed concern that the virus has mutated after he observed that patients at the Prince of Wales Hospital, which was hard-hit by a Sars outbreak, displayed differences in infectiousness, symptoms and the severity of their illness.

Early investigations had revealed that the virus believed to be causing Sars had "mutated, but not to a great extent", said Stephen Tsui, a biochemist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Monday.

"We want to find out whether it's because the virus is different that causes such differences," he said. "If we can figure that out, we can then predict which patient will be afflicted more severely."

Hong Kong reported 40 new cases on Monday, bringing the total number of infected people to 1,190. Some 229 people have already recovered.