Posted on 05/02/2003 6:52:09 AM PDT by truthandlife
Researchers in Hong Kong have warned that the SARS virus is mutating fast and this could complicate efforts to develop a solid diagnosis and a vaccine.
Doctors at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said they have completed genetic sequencing on virus samples taken from 11 SARS patients and that they found two forms of the illness in Hong Kong.
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"We have shown that the SARS coronavirus is undergoing rapid evolution in our population," said Dr Dennis Lo, a chemical pathologist at the university.
"This rapid evolution is like that of a murderer who is trying to change his fingerprints or even his appearance to try to escape detection."
One strain was detected in a woman whose illness was linked to an outbreak caused by a sick medical professor from China who spread SARS to other people at a hotel in Hong Kong, Dr Lo said.
The other came from a Hong Kong man believed to have caught it in the border city of Shenzhen.
Dr Lo said researchers need to find out whether people who get SARS can develop immunity to any form of it.
If that is not the case, then finding ways to better diagnose it and to develop a vaccine could be more difficult, Dr Lo said.
More work needs to be done before researchers can say whether the virus has become more infectious and lethal, he added.
Meanwhile Hong Kong on Friday reported eight more SARS deaths and another 11 infections, bringing the local deaths to 170 and the total cases to 1,611.
44 patients were discharged on Friday, bringing the total number of discharged to 878, said a Hospital Authority spokesman.
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