Faculty Bibliography

In another experiment with mice, the scientists documented the strength of the mouse antibody protection against SARS. The scientists took the portion of blood that contains antibodies, injected it into the mice and then deliberately exposed the animals to the SARS virus. That process, known as passive transfer of antibody, completely protected against reinfection, Dr. [Anthony S. Fauci] said. Dr. [Brian Murphy] has not developed an experimental SARS vaccine but the neutralizing antibody he found in his experiments provide an important measure for determining the effectiveness of experimental SARS vaccines, Dr. Fauci said. If SARS does not return, and an experimental vaccine is found safe and able to produce antibodies in humans, ethics would preclude deliberately trying to infect a vaccine recipient with the SARS virus as a scientific challenge. The reason is the high death rate from SARS, about 11 percent

The Geneva-based U.N. agency expressed optimism after convening a panel of 50 experts from 15 countries to review reports on a number of candidate SARS vaccines. Scientists in Canada, China, the United States and possibly other countries began developing them after the SARS epidemic earlier this year. [Marie-Paule Kieny] said in a telephone interview that it was too difficult to predict which research team would inject the first human with a SARS vaccine, and when, if ever, a vaccine might be available

The Geneva-based U.N. agency expressed optimism after convening a panel of 50 experts from 15 countries to review reports on a number of candidate SARS vaccines. Scientists in Canada, China, the United States and possibly other countries began developing them after the SARS epidemic earlier this year. [Marie-Paule Kieny] said in a telephone interview that it was too difficult to predict which research team would inject the first human with a SARS vaccine, and when, if ever, a vaccine might be available. Members of [Anthony S. Fauci]'s institute, a federal agency in Bethesda, Md., participated in the WHO panel meeting. In a telephone interview, Fauci said he shared the belief that clinical tests of a SARS vaccine could begin early next year

The panel also recommended determining the amount of SARS virus in blood, respiratory secretions and other body fluids as a way of measuring response to antiviral and other drugs. But such measurements could be difficult to obtain if SARS re-emerged in poor countries. Doctors still do not know how best to treat SARS patients who have breathing difficulties, Dr. [Simon Mardel] said. One method is invasive ventilation, when a patient is connected to a ventilator, a procedure that generally requires sedation and temporary paralysis. A second method involves blowing oxygen into the lungs through a mask. Both carry the risk of transmitting the virus to hospital employees

Doctors still do not know how best to treat SARS patients who have breathing difficulties, [Simon Mardel] said. One method is invasive ventilation, in which a patient is connected to a ventilator through a tube inserted in the windpipe, a procedure that generally requires sedation and temporary paralysis. A second method is noninvasive: A mask is fitted over the face and oxygen is blown into the lungs. Both carry the risk of transmitting the virus to hospital employees

It 'is a matter of urgency to get better analysis and review,' said Dr. Simon Mardel, a WHO official who led the two-day meeting that ended Friday. He said thousands of potential therapies and compounds had been tested so far as researchers try to determine treatments for SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome

The African nations are Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania, which have about one-third of all AIDS cases there. In the Caribbean, the aid will go to the Bahamas; Dominican Republic; Haiti; the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, which includes Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica; Grenada; St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia, St.Vincent and the Grenadines; Anguilla and Montserrat; and the British Virgin Islands. More than 90 percent of Caribbean AIDS patients live in these areas

If a major outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, occurs, then the system of sending specimens for independent confirmation will become less critical, said Dr. Malik Peiris of the Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong. The World Health Organization credits Peiris with discovering the SARS coronavirus. The agency recognized the risk that SARS might spread if tests were delayed. We admit that we might well miss the first case or even the first cluster, [John MacKenzie] said. The panel, he said, is recommending limiting SARS testing for now largely because scientists do not have enough specimens of the serum portion of blood from patients who were infected during the epidemic earlier this year. The serum contains antibodies to the virus and is needed for purposes of scientific controls in diagnostic testing. Laboratory scientists need positive serum to make quite sure that what you're seeing is what you expect to see, MacKenzie said

The countries in Africa are Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania, which have about one-third of all AIDS cases there. The Caribbean nations are the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, which includes Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica, Grenada; Saint Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. More than 90 percent of Caribbean AIDS patients live in those places

All countries should conduct inventories at their laboratories to determine where the SARS virus is being kept and what strains of the virus are being stored, [John MacKenzie] said Tuesday. Also, MacKenzie said, the WHO, an agency of the United Nations, and member countries needed to develop procedures to control which laboratories can hold and work with the virus, which apparently is confined to laboratories now. The committee came up with a list of high-priority research questions for researchers, but did not release the list. In the Singapore case, a 27-year-old doctoral student accidentally became infected with SARS while working on the West Nile virus. The student did not know he had been exposed to the SARS virus