Miami ? Two cruise lines are banning passengers who appear sick and have recently visited Toronto to try to prevent spread of a new respiratory disease, cruise company officials said Friday.

Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean Cruises said they would send home anyone who had been in Toronto in the two weeks before their voyage and who had a fever above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or showed other symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The cruise lines already had banned passengers who had recently traveled to China, Singapore, Hong Kong or Vietnam. Toronto was included after the World Health Organization this week added the city to a list of SARS hot spots that travelers should avoid.