Hong Kong researchers said on Saturday they had isolated the
virus, found it to be a new one, and designed the first diagnostic
test, meaning patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
can be identified, and therefore treated, much faster.
On Sunday the WHO praised the Hong Kong's team's findings but
sounded a note of caution.
"The race to identify the SARS causative agent is by no means
over. Although the virus has now been isolated, its identity remains
elusive," the global body said in a statement.
The virus, spread around the world by air travelers, is believed
to have killed 13 people and infected about 400 people in about a
dozen countries. The majority of cases are in Hong Kong.
Controlling its spread has been a headache for health authorities
and airlines, which have introduced screening procedures for
passengers showing any flu-like symptoms.
The illness begins with a high fever, dry cough, chills, and
severe breathing difficulties. A healthy and athletic adult can end
up on a respirator within five days.
The majority of cases are medical workers who have been in close
contact with patients or victims' family members.
"What we are trying to prevent is the cases going from family
members and health workers to others who are not in the family. If
that would occur, it would be a community outbreak," the WHO said on
its Web site (www.who.int) last week.
Fears of a wider outbreak have risen in Hong Kong after health
officials said two people who worked in the same office as a patient
were infected at work.
HUNT GOES ON
The WHO said researchers around the world are trying to pin down
the family the virus belongs to. Identification will help
researchers develop a vaccine or specific cure.
Scientists in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany and Canada, identified
viruses taken from patients as paramyxoviruses, a large family of
microbes that includes germs that cause measles, mumps and
respiratory infections.
The WHO said other research groups in the network of
collaborating labs were producing hints the virus might belong to
another family but also expressed hope of bringing the epidemic
under control.
"In less than a week, they (researchers in the world) have
produced results which, in other circumstances, would likely have
taken months or more. This rapid advance is fueling the hope that
SARS can and will be contained," the WHO said on their Web site.
The University of Hong Kong researchers said on Saturday they had
designed the world's first SARS diagnostic test, which detects a
patient's antibodies, which could confirm between five to 14 days
after infection that the victim had the disease.
Hong Kong doctors have been treating patients with ribavirin --
an anti-virus drug -- and steroids. They say the regimen works for
most patients if treated early.
Currently, doctors diagnose a patient with SARS only by looking
at symptoms and tracing the victim's history of contacts and
response to antibiotics, the researchers said.
Hong Kong Hospital Authority director Ko Wing-man said on Sunday
one more patient had died in Hong Kong, bringing the death toll in
the city to eight. The number of infections in Hong Kong rose to 247
on Sunday, including 242 suffering full-blown pneumonia.
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