China announces sale of Sars blood test

China says it has approved the sale of a blood test for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).

China says it has approved the sale of a blood test for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars). The test can detect antigens for the virus that causes Sars one to 10 days after exposure. The news is announced by the official Xinhua News Agency, citing an official of the State Food and Drug Administration (Sfda). The test “is very sensitive and safe, as well as less expensive and easy to use,” Xinhua said. It didn’t say who developed the test or whether it might be sold outside China. China has been aggressively researching tests and a possible vaccine for Sars, which is believed to have originated in the country’s Guangdong province in late 2002. The disease killed 774 people worldwide last year and one more person in a mini-outbreak in China in April. The world’s first human test of a vaccine began last month in Beijing with four volunteers.(Source: Asia News-Health, June 2004)