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April 07, 2003

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Federal Agencies Start Work on Vaccine for Mystery Illness"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (www.stltoday.com) (04/05/03) P. 29

U.S. researchers are starting to look for a vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which is believed to be caused by a new form of the coronavirus.  Research into a SARS vaccine is ongoing at the National Institutes of Health, and officials add that they are trying to interest industry in the vaccine.  The researchers--led by Dr. Brian Murphy, co-chief of the laboratory of infectious diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)--are currently testing samples of the virus to make sure that the cells can replicate, so that any eventual vaccine could be made in large amounts.  NIAID head Dr. Anthony Fauci noted, however, that any vaccine is at least one year away, and that if SARS is not caused by a coronavirus, the researchers will have to start all over again.

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