SARS cure in sight
Published: September 21, 2004
Researchers from Hong Kong and US said on Tuesday that they have found the chemicals that can stop the spread of the SARS virus, raising hopes for its cure.
Joint research by Hong Kong University and the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Centre has created 104 molecules which they say renders useless the bug that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
“These are like keys, if you like, that fit the lock to stop SARS replicating,” said Richard Kao, assistant research professor at the Hong Kong University’s microbiology department.
SARS killed almost 800 people, mostly in Hong Kong and China, in a worldwide outbreak last year that infected more than 8,000
.
Kao said researchers had engineered more than 50,000 molecules to test on laboratory samples of the virus.
The next step would be to test the chemicals on animals in a special lab being constructed in Hong Kong. “We know they stop SARS but now we need to know how they do it,” he said
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