A deadly fever which hit Sri Lanka's south and southwest areas recently is not SARS or bird flu, a government minister was quoted as saying by the state radio.

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday quoted Professor Tissa Vitharana, the Minister of Science and Technology as saying that the viral fever does not belong to the category of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

"This ailment had been identified as a respiratory disease which tends to spread in warm climates during the winter," the radio quoted Vitharana, a reputed epidemiologist who once headed the government Medical Research Institute in capital Colombo, as saying.

At least 75 cases of the deadly fever were recorded from the southern district of Matara and the southwestern town of Embilipitiya, 170 kilometers from capital Colombo.

Nine patients died raising fears of SARS. The fears of Avian or the bird flu were raised when a large number of birds died in a government controlled chicken farm at Embilipitiya.

Source: Xinhua