24 July 2004	Saturday	06 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

HONG KONG: A study has found that a Chinese herbal remedy that includes extract of deer antler can ease the pain of people recovering from SARS, researchers at Hong Kong's Baptist University said on Friday.

Tests of the herbal medicine "fufang" on sufferers of the bone-degenerating condition avascular necrosis, one of the complaints of people recovering from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndorome (SARS), found it appeared to have a palliative effect, they said.

"The study showed that the 'fufang' could tonify the kidney, strengthen bone and replenish marrow, thus improving patients daily life by relieving symptoms such as joint pain, lack of vitality, poor quality of sleep and insomnia, aversion to cold, depression and frequent urination," an interim report said.

Some 300 Hong Kong people were killed and around 1,600 more were affected by SARS last year in a world-wide outbreak that claimed almost 800 lives.

The English-language South China Morning Post newspaper said about 190 of the recovered SARS patients suffered from the bone problem, mostly as a result of the treatment they were given. Fufang is a combination of extracts from "deer velvet". -AFP