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| WHO identifies nature of SARS |
| CCTV.COM 2003-04-17 09:04:50 |
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The virus causing the mysterious severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, has been pinned down by scientists. The World Health Organization confirmed from Geneva on Wednesday that the new form of coronavirus is to blame for the illnesses and deaths from SARS.
The news was announced in the middle of a day－long meeting at the WHO's Geneva headquarters. Scientists from many laboratories around the world working on the disease were there.
Experiments have shown that monkeys infected with the virus suspected of causing SARS developed the same symptoms of the disease that humans are doing. The new form of coronavirus was first isolated from sick patients in March by the University of Hong Kong. The test was a crucial step in verifying the cause of the disease, which has so far made more than 3,000 people ill in 22 countries and killed at least 161 people worldwide.
Verifying the cause is important to the development of new drugs to combat the disease and to the creation of a vaccine, should that be needed.
Virologists from the WHO said they may also be able to refine diagnostic tests that will help stop the disease spreading.
Despite the discovery the scientists have made, it remains unclear whether infection with a second type of virus, the human metapneumovirus which belongs to the paramyxovirus family and makes the illness worse.
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Editor: Zhao Xuan CCTV.com
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