Medical scientists from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland
announced they have taken the first step on the way to find a
vaccine for SARS, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.
The reagent of vaccine for SARS that scientists have just developed
will first be tested on animals over the next six months, the
report said.
Scientists are as yet undecided on whether the vaccine reagent will
be harmful or effective to human beings. And while this question
remains unanswered they are reluctant to run human trials.
Among those working to find a vaccine for SARS are Yuan Guoyong and
Guan Yi from the University of Hong Kong, Zhong Nanshan, president
of the Guangdong Research Institute for Respiratory Diseases and
Wen Yumei from Shanghai-based Fudan University.
Meanwhile, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who
asked not to be identified, expressed his reservations about
reports concerning the rapid development of a vaccine for SARS.
"I
think it is not realistic to say the vaccine will be developed
within months," he said.
The procedure of developing vaccine includes basic research,
experiments on animals, small-scale manufacturing, asking for
appraisal and clinic research.
"The procedure will need at least two years," said the academician,
an expert in the field of virus vaccines.
The Ministry of Health reported nine SARS cases yesterday, all of
which were in Beijing.
Among that total of newly confirmed cases, seven were from
suspected ones.
Two new SARS cases were confirmed in Hong Kong yesterday, neither
of which involved health care workers, according to the Department
of Health and Hospital Authority.
In
Shanghai, a local official said stringent government moves coupled
with healthy life styles had partly contributed to Shanghai's
"luckiness" in escaping the worst of SARS.
With 16 million registered residents and a migrant population of 3
million, the country's largest city had by yesterday reported only
eight imported, SARS cases.
The city's situation was "so far so good," said Peng Jing, deputy
director of the Shanghai Health Bureau.
(China Daily May 28, 2003)