Speedy SARS diagnostic test to be released Monday

A HAMBURG BIOTECH company will release a real time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) diagnostic test on Monday which, it is claimed, can diagnose SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrom) in two hours.

Artus has teamed up with the Bernard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNI) n Hamburg and will donate the test free to laboratories for evaluation.

BNI identified the SARS virus two weeks ago as typical of Corona viruses.

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 particular tests 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.

Meanwhile, a web site has opened up in Hong Kong, particularly hard hit by SARS, which gives information on the situation there as well as graphs of reported cases. The site is said to be attracting half a million page views a day, and can be found here. µ

Update Meanwhile Queen's University in Canada claims it has a fast SARS diagnostic too, details of which you can find here.

* A PERSON is isolation in a local Harrow hospital suspected of being a SARS sufferer. The patient is in Northwick Park Hospital, just a lob away from INQ Central.