A German biotech company began distributing on Monday what it says is the first commercial test for a respiratory virus that has killed over 140 people and infected more than 3,300 worldwide, ravaging parts of Asia.

Hamburg-based Artus said it had developed the test for the virus causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, with the nearby Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in just two weeks and had begun distributing it free.

"We have had a wave of demand... We are providing it free of charge. It is an urgent medical need," Artus's marketing director Kay Koerner told Reuters, adding that the company may later seek financial gain from the test.

The test can detect the virus from throat swabs, sputum or feces and produces results in two hours, say its makers, who specialize in disease test kits. They said classical tests for antibodies typically took 10 to 20 days after infection.

Koerner said Artus had already sent test kits to a number of Asian countries, and laboratories in Australia, Germany and Scandinavian countries were also being supplied.

Artus, which has subsidiaries in Malaysia and the United States, is not stock market listed. It was set up as an independent company by the BNI.

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