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It is in the breaking news sidebar!
Posted on 04/14/2003 11:28:19 AM PDT by per loin
By Philip Blenkinsop
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German biotech company began distributing on Monday what it says is the first commercial test for a respiratory virus that has killed over 140 people and infected more than 3,300 worldwide, ravaging parts of Asia.
Hamburg-based Artus GmbH said it had developed the test for the virus causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) with the nearby Bernhard-Nocht-Institute (BNI) for Tropical Medicine in just two weeks and had begun distributing it free.
"We have had a wave of demand... We are providing it free of charge. It is an urgent medical need," Artus's marketing director Kay Koerner told Reuters, adding that the company may later seek financial gain from the test.
The test can detect the virus from throat swabs, sputum or feces and produces results in two hours, say its makers, who specialize in disease test kits. They said classical tests for antibodies typically took 10 to 20 days after infection.
Koerner said Artus had already sent test kits to a number of Asian countries, and laboratories in Australia, Scandinavian countries and Germany were also being supplied.
Artus, which has subsidiaries in Malaysia and the United States, is not stock market listed. It was set up as an independent company by the BNI.
German microbiologist Bernhard Fleischer, head of the BNI, said late last month that his institute had probably identified the virus causing SARS.
Scientists believe it is caused by a new coronavirus, a relative of one of the many viruses that cause the common cold. SARS is marked by a high fever, dry cough and other flu-like symptoms but can progress to pneumonia.
About four percent of patients with SARS die, scientists say.
Forgive me for repetition, but is there anyone out there with the medical background/knowledge to give an educated guess as to what the death rate might be if no medical care were given? For instance, if there were no beds available, or doctors, or money?
I did see one figure given by a journalist in Hong Kong, but she gave no source for it, attributing it only to "doctors". The figure was 40%.
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