Lab accident fuels SARS fears

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<h1>Lab accident fuels SARS fears</h1>
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<p><P>Health officials are concerned that the laboratory — and not the presumed animal reservoir — may be the most likely source for the reintroduction of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which killed hundreds of people last year.</P><br />
<P>The concerns have been provoked by a second accident in which a researcher was infected with the virus through contamination in the laboratory since the outbreak was contained in July.</P><br />
<P>The most recent case, confirmed in December, involved a researcher who had been screening antiviral drugs for effectiveness against the SARS coronavirus at the National Defense University in Taipei, Taiwan. The first accident occurred last August in Singapore, when a researcher contracted the disease through working with samples of West Nile virus that had been contaminated with the SARS coronavirus.</P><br />
<P><a  href="/sci.cfm?redir=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/303/5654/26?ijkey=7RVfhT6.cFD7M&keytype=ref&siteid=sci" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full news story in <EM>Science</EM></A></P><br />
<P>Reference: <em>Science</em> 303, 26 (2004)</P></p>

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<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/news/lab-accident-fuels-sars-fears-seaap/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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Health officials are concerned that the laboratory — and not the presumed animal reservoir — may be the most likely source for the reintroduction of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which killed hundreds of people last year.

The concerns have been provoked by a second accident in which a researcher was infected with the virus through contamination in the laboratory since the outbreak was contained in July.

The most recent case, confirmed in December, involved a researcher who had been screening antiviral drugs for effectiveness against the SARS coronavirus at the National Defense University in Taipei, Taiwan. The first accident occurred last August in Singapore, when a researcher contracted the disease through working with samples of West Nile virus that had been contaminated with the SARS coronavirus.

Link to full news story in Science

Reference: Science 303, 26 (2004)