The race to find a vaccine

摘要

Hopes that SARS, like many new viruses, would take badly to its new host and lose virulence are fading. If anything, the virus may evolve into something worse. And many epidemiologists think we are slowly losing the battle to contain it. We might have a year or two before it has spread everywhere. So what defences can we put up in that time? A vaccine could stop SARS in its tracks. And we already have vaccines that protect animals against viruses similar to the SARS coronavirus . Yet a year is an unimaginably short time in which to develop a vaccine, test its effectiveness and safety - and get it to people. Having said that, before SARS it would have seemed far-fetched to suggest that scientists could identify the bug responsible, sequence it and start looking for a remedy within weeks. Major institutions are already gearing up to make the same kind of effort to find a vaccine. They will have plenty of incentive. It now seems likely that the death rate among those infected with SARS could be 10 per cent or more, far higher than the initial estimate of 4 per cent.