HAMBUG: International air travel may be faster and cheaper than ever before but the improvements that have made flying more convenient for passengers have also fuelled the spread of the deadly lung infection called SARS.

Cases of the pneumonia-like virus have now been reported on almost every continent, just months after it was first observed in the Chinese province of Guangdong last November. According to World Health Organization (WHO) figures 2,416 people worldwide have been affected with SARS and 89 have died.

The problem, however, is not solely caused by increasing numbers of flights and passengers, but by the development of international transit hubs.

A trend that grew during 1980’s, “hub and spoke” networks spouted at major international airports to facilitate onward travel across the region for long haul travellers.

“The connection between central points comes together like a wheel,” said Michael Lamberty, spokesman for Lufthansa in Frankfurt, explaining the concept of the “hub and spoke” network.

“The spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus from Guangdong, through Hanoi and Hong Kong to further parts of Asia, to Europe and North America, illustrates clearly the high speed at which the virus moves through air travel,” said Professor Reinhard Kurth, president of the Robert-Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin.

Along with the Asian countries of China, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam, Canada and the US have also been hard hit. With close economic and personal ties between the two regions, airline routes are busy. The more passengers that fly between hubs, the higher the chances of a virus hopping between continents.

The struggle against infectious diseases must therefore be centred at transit hubs where flights connect.—dpa