Was this test developed before the WHO confirmed the identification of the SARS virus? Not sure but last I remember reading they were trying to reproduce the virus in an animal. according to this article, it looks like they have done this.
When monkey cells were infected with the new virus, the virus multiplied and then deformed the host cells. But a serum from patients who developed an immunity to SARS after recovering from the disease controlled cell deformation, according to a statement released Monday by the WHO. The serum could be used to treat the disease, observers said.
I really wish I weren't so scientifically illiterate. Do they have an Epidemiology-Understanding the Plague for Dummies?
It's the sentence, not the science.
Looks like they infected mokney cells with (suspected SARS) virus. The cells deformed in a particular way associated with SARS.
Next they took serum (some liquid from the blood) from a patient with SARS and added this serum to the monkey cell culture. The cells un-deformed.
The idea is that the suspected SARS virus caused a similar reaction in the monkey cells as it does in SARS patients. The serum from the SARS patients caused the monkey cells to "recover" indicating that this was likely the correct virus.