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Search continues for SARS treatment

Hospital Safety Connection, April 24, 2003

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As severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) quickly spreads across the globe, scientists are testing several dozen drugs that may effectively treat the illness, the Associated Press reports.

A recent breakthrough that decoded the virus's genetic makeup helped narrow the search. But if the testing doesn't identify an appropriate treatment in the next few weeks, scientists may have to create a drug from scratch, which could take at least five years.

For now, SARS treatment consists of isolating patients and dealing with their symptoms as the infection runs its course. Physicians in Hong Kong and Toronto are using the drug ribavirin to treat SARS patients, but U.S. researchers remain skeptical and decided not to formally test the drug on people. The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases found no evidence that ribavirin has any effect against the SARS virus growing in tissue cultures.

Viruses are harder to kill than bacteria, and there are only three dozen antiviral medicines on the market in the U.S. None specifically targets the coronaviruses, the family that includes the SARS virus. Testing is underway or will begin soon on all other antiviral drugs, which include AIDS drugs, herpes drugs, and more aimed at flu and other viruses.

Researchers also plan to test seven forms of interferon, which are the body's natural microbe killers. Success could come through a group of about 30 drugs not yet approved but already in testing for other purposes, since all are aimed at viral processes similar to those in the coronavirus.

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