WHO Urges Governments to Invest in SARS Vaccine

[Guest guest]

>

> ED NOTE: Ah, the collusion between pharmaceutical companies and WHO

> is becoming ever more apparent ....

>

> WHO Urges Governments to Invest in SARS Vaccine to Prevent Virus From

> Striking Again YEOH EN-LAI Associated Press Writer

> http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA5VJNI4HD.html

> The Associated Press

> Published: Jun 19, 2003

>

> SINGAPORE (AP) - As SARS subsides, governments need to pour more money

> into finding a vaccine to prevent the virus from striking again in a

> mutated form, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

>

> The coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome is

> mutating faster than previously thought - making vaccine research

> difficult, but even more necessary, said Marie-Paule Kieny, head of

> the World Health Organization's Initiative for Vaccine Research.

>

> " The number of mutations is up. How difficult it is to come up with a

> vaccine? We will know in the coming months, " she told a WHO-sponsored

> conference on SARS research in Singapore.

>

> Governments cannot afford to rely solely on private pharmaceutical

> companies to develop a vaccine against the flu-like illness that has

> killed about 800 people and sickened more than 8,400 worldwide, mostly

> in Asia.

>

> New cases spiked in March and April, but have plunged in recent weeks.

>

> " Vaccine manufacturers have to make profits, " she said. " If the market

> for SARS disappears, then their involvement, understandably, will

> reduce. " (ED NOTE: But the market won't disappear if WHO urges

> governments to invest in a SARS vaccine, will it?)

>

> Previously researchers had said that although the coronavirus must

> have mutated to jump from animals to humans, it didn't appear to be

> mutating rapidly and on the contrary appeared remarkably stable.

>

> However, several scientists speaking at the conference presented fresh

> evidence that the coronavirus which causes SARS is mutating and could

> evolve into something more dangerous.

>

> " How mutable is SARS? The mutations allow for species jumping. It is

> highly adaptable to humans, " said Michael Lai from the University of

> Southern California's department of microbiology and immunology.

>

> Research must focus on the transforming virus and how it could mask

> itself from current models of detection, Kieny said.

>

> " The virus evolves, " she said. " We have to monitor its diversity and

> its potential evolution. "

>

> About 500 scientists and doctors attended the conference, held a day

> after another WHO conference in neighboring Malaysia where countries

> shared lessons they learned battling the deadly illness.

>

> The slowdown in the spread of the virus has given scientists time to

> delve deeper into vaccine and mutation research, said Mark Salter, the

> head of the WHO's global alert system.

>

> " In the coming weeks, new and innovative ideas will come to the fore, "

> Salter said.

>

> " Failure in the face of SARS is not an option, " he said.

>

> AP-ES-06-19-03 0450EDT