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May 05, 2003

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"SARS Mutating Rapidly, Complicating Diagnosis"

Memphis Commercial Appeal (TN) (www.gomemphis.com) (05/03/03); Wong, Margaret

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has, according to researchers, already mutated into at least two distinct forms.  Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong said Friday that as of late March, there were two forms of the virus in Hong Kong: one in a woman whose illness was linked to an outbreak associated with a mainland Chinese man who spread the virus to others at a Hong Kong hotel, and the other from a Hong Kong man who is thought to have contracted the virus in the mainland city of Shenzhen.  Dr. Dennis Lo, a chemical pathologist at the university, noted that researchers are also trying to find out whether a person who develops SARS from a specific strain will be immune to other strains.  If they are not, he said, efforts to develop a vaccine will be more difficult.

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