Canada faces double blow

Canada thought the outbreak was nearly over

Canada is confronting what appears to be a fresh outbreak of the Sars virus as it simultaneously contends with the first case of mad cow disease in more than a decade.

Two suspected Sars victims died on Friday - part of a group of 20 new suspected cases - just 10 days after the World Health Organization took the city off its list of Sars affected areas.

Meanwhile some 13 farms have been quarantined in an effort to trace the source of the first known case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, in ten years.

Toronto's tourism industry has already been badly hit by the Sars virus, and there are fears that the country's lucrative beef industry may similarly suffer from the impact of BSE.

Bans on Canadian beef have already been imposed by several countries, including by the United States, Canada's major market for exported beef and cattle.

Isolation efforts

Toronto had been optimistic about controlling the Sars outbreak, with Friday's new cases the first in more than a month.

Now the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control has issued a travel alert warning travellers to avoid hospitals and medical facilities in Toronto.

One of the suspected sufferers had returned from China at the end of April.

"What we are clear about is that it was not community acquired. It is either travel related or health care institution related," said Toronto's Associate Medical Officer of Health, Barbara Yaffe.

Officials and are working to isolate people who passed through a Toronto hospital during an 11-day period.

There had been great optimism in Canada, with the number of active Sars cases dropping to eight from more than 140 at its peak.

The lifting of the WHO's travel warning on 30 April had been a major boost after its negative effects.

Conventions had been cancelled, with hotels and restaurants suffering, and the Bank of Canada fearing the drop in business activity could lower overall economic growth.

BSE blow

Now Canada's beef industry also faces difficulties as it battles to bolster confidence in the face of BSE fears.

The disease cost the British farming industry and government billions with many cattle slaughtered and beef exports banned.

With 13 farms in three provinces under quarantine, investigators admit they are not close to finding the source of the case.

A non-thoroughbred Black Angus cow in Alberta, which had been killed in late January, was confirmed to have BSE on Tuesday.

There is some token of optimism as no signs of the disease have been found in other cattle.

The diseased cow was thought to have been born either six or eight years ago, before the advent of strict new controls.

The cow would be North America's first case of domestically-contracted BSE if it turns out to have been born in Canada.