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It was on a farm somewhere in southern China where the mystery pneumonia we know as SARS probably began. Once in the cities, the virus spread, thanks to air travel, is now a flaring epidemic in more than a dozen countries. SARS, which stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, is the name of a potentially fatal new respiratory disease only recently recognized by scientists. It is not the name of the microorganism that causes the …

…usually a mild case of cardiovascular failure. One in 10 requires assistance to breathe. In many patients, higher levels of lactate dehydrogenase are often found; this is an enzyme whose presence in the blood usually indicates tissue damage to heart muscle or other organs, such as the liver. Patients also show evidence of aspartate aminotransferase, a catalysing enzyme whose presence is often used to diagnose the presence of hepatitis or damage caused by a heart attack.