China has introduced a testing method which can detect the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus within one hour, experts said Sunday.
The method, based on the sequencing of the virus' genome, was jointly developed by the Beijing Genome Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Microbial Epidemics Affiliated to the Medical Research Institute of the People's Liberation Army.
The new method uses the specially-modified protein of the virus to detect the presence of a type of antibody which the body produces as a response to infection with the virus, according to experts, who said that the presence of the antibody is an absolutely certain indicator of the existence of the virus.
The method is safe, inexpensive and requires a relatively small sample for testing, and, most strikingly, it produces accurate results within one hour.
The PLA's Microbial Epidemic Institute's previous test produced results in about two hours.
(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2003)
