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Saturday, March 22, 2003Researchers found that antibodies in blood from recovering SARS patients stopped test tube growth of a virus extracted from the noses of other patients. This information could be used to develop a simple nasal swab test to diagnose the condition and distinguish it from the run-of-the-mill flu. It also suggests that the disease is indeed caused by the paramyxovirus since that's the virus that's inhibited by the recovering patient antibodies. In other news, it looks like the disease is successfully being contained by infection control practices: Dr. Gerberding said that even without knowing what causes SARS, control measures appear to have been effective. The only people known to have been infected are those who have had close contact with another infected person. These are either people who stayed in a certain Hong Kong hotel, hospital workers caring for SARS patients, or members of patients' families. "The fact that we have been able to prevent spread to the community suggests that the infection control, isolation practices in the hospital have been effective," she said. "In Vientnam, for example, there have been no new cases reported in the last 24 hours and that suggests that we may have limited spread beyond the first generation of individuals." That's good news. posted by Sydney on 3/22/2003 09:11:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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