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Health officials are also investigating the possibility of a second potential new outbreak of SARS among residents of Parry Sound, a small Ontario community, after a resident there developed SARS following a visit to an affected hospital in Toronto. About 70 Parry Sound residents are in quarantine while the ill patient, who is considered a possible SARS case, is now in a Toronto hospital. At the same time, health officials were investigating the possibility that the disease has affected a fifth hospital in the Toronto area since a new wave of illness was reported on May 22, suggesting that the potential for greater spread continued

The World Health Organization's 192 member nations were preparing Wednesday to grant it sweeping new powers to respond to international health threats like SARS and bioterrorist attacks. Under the resolution at the organization's annual meeting in Geneva, WHO would gain the power to set up an instant communication network, tap unofficial but reliable sources of information, and send its own teams to see if countries experiencing outbreaks are doing enough to prevent threats to other countries. Early in the SARS epidemic, WHO officials used publicity to pressure the Chinese government to allow teams to investigate the disease. Although the first cases of SARS were believed to have occurred in Guangdong Province in China last November, China initially and repeatedly rebuffed the international health agency's initial requests for teams of epidemiologists and infectious disease experts to visit Guangdong

Last week, scientists in Hong Kong and at the Center for Disease Control in Shenzhen, in Guangdong just across the Hong Kong border, reported finding the SARS virus in three species of animals Himalayan, or masked, palm civets; raccoon dogs; and badgers bought at a food market in Shenzhen. That discovery suggested, but did not prove, that the SARS virus infects animals in the wild, making it virtually impossible to eradicate the disease. One of the two new studies involved workers at the same market in Shenzhen. Dr. Klaus Stoehr, the scientific director of WHO's investigation of SARS in Geneva, said that a team of virologists headed by Dr. Malik Peiris of Hong Kong University tested blood taken from 10 market workers and found antibodies to the SARS virus in five. Antibodies are specific proteins that the immune system forms when it mounts an attack against a microbe. Although the findings are not definitive, they strengthen the suggestion that animals play a role in transmitting SARS, Stoehr said. The findings, he said, suggest that the spectrum of disease is wider than what we saw when SARS was first detected in March as a severe form of atypical pneumonia in patients in Hanoi and Hong Kong

Health officials are also investigating the possibility of a second potential new case of the disease, known formally as severe acute respiratory syndrome, among residents of the small Ontario community of Parry Sound after a resident there developed what medical authorities believed was SARS following a visit to an affected hospital in Toronto. About 70 residents of Parry Sound are in quarantine while the ill patient is now in a Toronto hospital. At the same time, health officials are investigating the possibility that the disease has affected a fifth hospital in the metropolitan Toronto area since a new wave of illness was reported last Thursday, suggesting that the potential for greater spread continued. In the new wave in Toronto, there are at least 11 probable and 23 suspected SARS cases, and the numbers are expected to rise over the next few days, health officials said. Even as Toronto officials continued to try to reassure residents and tourists that the city was safe, two elderly patients died Tuesday night from SARS, bringing the total to 29 deaths in the Toronto area in three months. During the same period, doctors have reported 262 other cases -- 118 probable and 144 suspected -- making Canada's largest city the most seriously affected place outside of Asia since the first cases occurred in Guangdong province in China last November

Health authorities yesterday ordered the quarantining of up to 2,000 students, teachers and workers at a large parochial school on the outskirts of Toronto that was closed after an 11th- grade student attended classes for two days last week while showing symptoms of SARS. Health officials also are investigating the possibility of a second potential new outbreak of SARS among residents of the small Ontario community of Parry Sound after a resident there developed SARS following a visit to an affected hospital in Toronto. About 70 residents of Parry Sound are in quarantine while the ill patient, considered a possible SARS case, is in a Toronto hospital. 1 PIC; Nurses at North York General Hospital in Toronto walked through a new SARS assessment clinic outside the emergency room of the hospital. The illness has spread to other area hospitals through transfers of patients from North York.; Credit: Lucas Oleniuk / Associated Press

Last week, scientists in Hong Kong and at the Center for Disease Control in Shenzhen, just across the Hong Kong border in Guangdong, reported finding the SARS virus in three species of animals Himalayan palm civets, raccoon dogs and badgers at a food market in Shenzhen. That discovery suggested, but did not prove, that the virus infects animals in the wild, making it virtually impossible to eradicate the disease. One of the two new studies involved workers at the same market. Dr. Klaus Stoehr, the scientific director of WHO's investigation of SARS in Geneva, said a team of virologists headed by Dr. Malik Peiris of Hong Kong University had tested blood taken from 10 market workers and found antibodies to the SARS virus in five. Antibodies are proteins that the immune system forms when it mounts an attack against a microbe. Although the findings are not definitive, they strengthen the suggestion that animals play a role in transmitting SARS, Stoehr said. The findings, he said, suggest that the spectrum of disease is wider than what we saw when SARS was first detected in March

*It authorizes the W.H.O. to issue global alerts for international health threats. Although the agency issued such an alert for SARS in March, it had no explicit authority to do so. Early in the SARS epidemic, W.H.O. officials used publicity to pressure the Chinese government to allow teams to investigate the disease. Although the first cases of SARS are believed to have occurred in Guangdong Province in China last November, China initially and repeatedly rebuffed the W.H.O.'s initial requests for teams of epidemiologists and infectious disease experts to visit Guangdong. ''This resolution would not have happened without SARS,'' said Dick Thompson, a W.H.O. spokesman

In addressing delegates from the W.H.O.'s 192 member countries at their annual meeting, Dr. [Jong-Wook Lee] said he would seek $200 million from donor countries to provide the staff and the training needed to improve disease monitoring. Ninety percent of the new funds would go to train more epidemiologists and develop field laboratories in poor countries, as well as to evaluate the global response to new diseases like SARS. China arrested a man accused of deliberately spreading the SARS virus and who could be executed if convicted, Reuters reported, citing a report from the Xinhua news agency. The man, Liu Baocheng, who recovered from SARS, was arrested as he left a hospital in Henan Province in central China. Mr. Liu, a migrant worker, escaped from a hospital twice while he was being treated for SARS. He was caught by the police, who returned him to the hospital. At the meeting yesterday, Dr. Lee paid tribute to Dr. Carlos Urbani, a W.H.O. physician who discovered and treated the earliest cases of SARS while working in Hanoi, Vietnam. Dr. Urbani died of SARS on March 29. His widow, Giuliana Chiorrini, was present at the meeting

The experience of carrying out measures to detect SARS and control the infection in areas with large numbers of cases shows that ''you can contain'' SARS, Dr. [Henk Bekedam] told reporters by telephone from Geneva where the W.H.O. is holding its annual meeting. Tommy G. Thompson, the United States secretary of health and human services, seemed to take the view that SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, was endemic when he told reporters in Brussels earlier in the day that he believed that SARS would probably reappear and cause deaths in the United States and Europe in the fall. Dr. Bekedam said the W.H.O. and Chinese officials were making a major effort to determine the original source of the SARS virus in nature. If SARS jumped species, health officials need to find the source so they can develop strategies to deal with such animal reservoirs to prevent similar introductions in the future, he said

The rejections have been based on the rivalry between China and Taiwan dating to 1949 when the two split amid civil war. China considers Taiwan a rebel province. Taiwan has sought observer status at the World Health Organization. As an observer, Taiwan would not be allowed to vote but could attend agency meetings, and its sovereignty would be implied. The United Nations has long taken the position that only China is a member. This year Taiwan is battling an epidemic of SARS. The United States said that it supported Taiwan's bid because it would help it contain SARS. In March, shortly after the World Health Organization issued a global alert about the threat of SARS, it asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work with Taiwan on the SARS epidemic, [David Heymann] said