This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Last week, health workers in China began to kill thousands ofanimals in an effort to prevent the spread of SARS. Severe acuterespiratory syndrome killed more than seven-hundred-seventy peoplearound the world last year.

Last week, tests confirmed that a man in Guangdong province hadthe first new case of SARS in China. The thirty-two-year-oldtelevision producer was treated and released from a hospital.

The tests showed he had a virussimilar to one found in civets. Yet Chinese media reported that theman had not eaten a civet. Civets are related to the mongoose andare a popular food in southern China during the winter.

Researchers think activities such as killing or handling infectedanimals is a likely way to spread the virus from animals to people.The World Health Organization warned of just such a danger fromhealth workers killing the civets. The United Nations agency alsowarned that such action could destroy important information aboutthe disease.

SARS first appeared in Guangdong in November of two-thousand-two.It infected more than one-thousand-five-hundred people there. Thelung disease killed about three-hundred-fifty people in China.Travelers spread SARS to nearly thirty countries. Eight-thousandpeople were infected by the middle of last year when the last casesappeared.

Since then, public health officials have been warning that thedisease could return. Researchers have been working to develop testsfor the virus and a vaccine to prevent it.

A report published recently in the Journal of the AmericanMedical Association discusses what was learned from the first SARSoutbreak. Researchers say keeping people with signs of the diseaseaway from the healthy population was effective in stopping thespread.

The researchers say people who live with those suspected of SARSshould also be quarantined until health workers are sure it is safe.Other ways to stop the spread of SARS include having health workerswear protective clothing and masks.

Scientists also reported that the drug interferon appeared toimprove the ability of steroid medicines to reduce the effects ofSARS.

In Guangdong, officials announced a health campaign to kill ratsand cockroaches so the province would be clean for the Lunar NewYear. The Chinese New Year begins January twenty-second.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by NancySteinbach.