International   

SARS: scientists claim breakthrough

PARIS MAY 14. Dutch researchers say they have carried out the last three lab tests needed under a venerable scientific benchmark to confirm that SARS is caused by a coronavirus. A test procedure known as Koch's Postulates is traditionally used by medical scientists to establish whether a specific virus has caused a disease.

The goal is to cross-check: to ensure that the disease can be clearly pinpointed to that virus and not to other pathogens that may lurk in samples taken from patients.

The first three criteria — isolating the virus from diseased hosts; cultivating it in host cells; and proving that the agent passes through a lab filter that traps bacteria, which are bigger than viruses — have already been met.

Scientists in Rotterdam say they have now successfully carried out the three other Koch tests.

These are: inducing the disease in the same or comparable host; re-isolating the pathogen from the sick animals; and detecting a specific response to the virus from the body's immune system.

The Osterhaus team used macaque monkeys as a close relative to human species to carry out the trio of experiments.

The research could be the final blow to early lab work in the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak that suggested another agent was to blame - a paramyxovirus, which is related to the virus that causes mumps and measles. — AFP

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• India, Pak. raise Kashmir issue in U.N.
• Powell `silence' upsets U.S. panel on religious freedom
• Pak. businessmen to visit India
• Riyadh vows to destroy terror cell
• Mass grave in Iraq
• U.S. has `strong suspicions' of Al-Qaeda involvement
• U.S. wants LTTE participation in Tokyo donors' conference
• LTTE shows no signs of climbdown
• IRA man denies he was a British spy
• Fighting rages in Congo
• SARS: scientists claim breakthrough
• Crackdown on Aceh rebels imminent
• `Abbas-Sharon meet on Saturday'
• Major blast during religious ceremony
• U.S. expels 14 Cuban diplomats
• A `Bollywood' touch to Cannes fete?

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu