16/05/03

Assessing scientific progress on SARS

By: Gretchen Vogel

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<h1>Assessing scientific progress on SARS</h1>
<h4>By: Gretchen Vogel</h4>
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<p>The unprecedented scientific resources focused on the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak are beginning to yield hints about how to fight the disease.<br />
<P></P>But in this article, Gretchen Vogel reports that, despite impressive progress, the most effective tool against the disease is the same as that used to fight 19th century cholera outbreaks: quickly tracing and isolating the contacts of patients before they spread the virus further.<br />
<P></P>Nevertheless, so far, this old-fashioned approach does seem to be paying off. And, according to some scientists, a sensitive diagnostic test to quickly identify people infected with the SARS coronavirus could be ready within a few weeks.<br />
<P></P><a  href="/sci.cfm?redir=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/300/5622/1062a?ijkey=5naBlXlY4m7Pk&keytype=ref&siteid=sci" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to <EM>Science</EM> article</A><br />
<P></P>Reference: <EM>Science</EM> 300, 1062 (2003)</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/global/features/assessing-scientific-progress-on-sars/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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The unprecedented scientific resources focused on the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak are beginning to yield hints about how to fight the disease.

But in this article, Gretchen Vogel reports that, despite impressive progress, the most effective tool against the disease is the same as that used to fight 19th century cholera outbreaks: quickly tracing and isolating the contacts of patients before they spread the virus further.

Nevertheless, so far, this old-fashioned approach does seem to be paying off. And, according to some scientists, a sensitive diagnostic test to quickly identify people infected with the SARS coronavirus could be ready within a few weeks.

Link to Science article

Reference: Science 300, 1062 (2003)