Singapore-made SARS Test Ready by This Week

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Singapore-made SARS Test Ready by This Week

A locally-developed test to help pinpoint potential Sars patients will be ready in Singapore by the end of the week, The Straits Times reports Wednesday.

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A locally-developed test to help pinpoint potential Sars patients will be ready in Singapore by the end of the week, The Straits Times reports Wednesday.

The three-hour diagnostic test will be tested in hospitals and research institutes here to determine if it is effective in picking out the virus.

The Genome Institute of Singapore, which came up with the test, said Tueday that the test may be sensitive enough to detect the virus in the early stages even before the person shows symptoms of severe acute respiratory disorder, such as a high fever and dry cough.

The test is in its final stages of completion, said deputy head Ren Ee Chee. 'The test has been able to pick up clearly the virus in the blood, but we don't know which is the best fluid to test yet.'

Other testing options are the secretions of the nose, mouth or eyes as well as in urine and faeces.

Meanwhile, 50 of the institute's researchers - half its strength - have been working round the clock on various aspects of the virus, to unravel the Sars genetic code, based on samples taken from a patient here.

Breaking the code is tantamount to finding chinks in the virus' armour, the first step towards finding a way to control it and treat Sars.

Singapore scientists expect to get it done in a week.

In the meantime, they have identified a critical gene that makes up one-sixth of the virus genome and which helps the virus multiply.

Results have been promising so far, said Dr Ren.

This portion of the sequence is 99 per cent identical to what key labs in Canada have uncovered in the same stretch of the genome.

The initial work was the hardest, said the institute's senior group leader, Professor Larry Stanton, because they were starting from scratch.

'After this, we will be able to sequence samples from other patients fairly quickly, and then we'll be able to compare the genetic diversity among different countries,' he said.

Source: Agencies

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