¡¡¡¡WELLINGTON, May 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Believe it or not, sales of the soft drink Sars have increased since the publicity over the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus hit the headlines, The East & Bays Courier news paper reported Wednesday.

¡¡¡¡The caramel-flavored drink, produced by Australian company Golden Circle, has the same name as the acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

¡¡¡¡New Zealand manager of Golden Circle, Brian Winter, said sales of the drink labelled Sars had increased over the last month.

¡¡¡¡The report said that dairy owners have also noticed an increasein sales of the drink. Panmure Mini Mart owner Bashar Ahmed sold out of the drink a couple of days ago and said there has been an increase in sales over the last few months.

¡¡¡¡The Westminster Dairy in St Heliers has also noticed the drink's popularity.

¡¡¡¡"People laugh at it. Many people point it out. Jokingly they ask:'Is this a medicine for SARS or protection against SARS ?'," one dairy owner said.

¡¡¡¡Mr. Winter said that the company was not thinking about changing the name of the drink and was unlikely to do so if current sales trends continue. Enditem