Speedy SARS diagnostic test to be released Monday
------------------------------------------------- A Hamburg biotech company will release a real time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) diagnostic test on Mon 14 Apr 2003, which, it is claimed, can diagnose SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2 hours. Artus has teamed up with the Bernard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNI) in Hamburg and will donate the test free to laboratories for evaluation. BNI [and other laboratories in the WHO consortium] identified a SARS-associated virus 2 weeks ago as an [atypical] coronavirus. The Artus test will be available from it and its subsidiaries in both the USA and Malaysia in the coming week, the company said in a statement. The assay can detect [the SARS-associated coronavirus] using throat swabs, sputum or faecal systems, and is an advance on antibody assays from blood which may take 10 or 20 days to process.