Lancet. 2003 May 17;361(9370):1730-3. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(03)13376-4.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome is a new disease in human beings, first recognised in late February, 2003, in Hanoi, Vietnam. The severity of the disease, combined with its rapid spread along international air-travel routes, prompted WHO to set up a network of scientists from 11 laboratories around the world to try to identify the causal agent and develop a diagnostic test. The network unites laboratories with different methods and capacities to rapidly fulfil all postulates for establishing a virus as the cause of a disease. Results are shared in real time via a secure website, on which microscopy pictures, protocols for testing, and PCR primer sequences are also posted. Findings are discussed in daily teleconferences. Progress is further facilitated through sharing between laboratories of samples and test materials. The network has identified a new coronavirus, consistently detected in samples of SARS patients from several countries, and conclusively named it as the causative agent of SARS; the strain is unlike any other known member of the genus Coronavirus. Three diagnostic tests are now available, but all have limitations.
严重急性呼吸综合征是一种人类的新型疾病，2003年2月底在越南河内首次被发现。该疾病的严重性及其通过国际航空旅行路线的迅速传播，促使世界卫生组织建立了一个由全球11个实验室的科学家组成的网络，试图确定病原体并开发诊断测试。该网络将具有不同方法和能力的实验室联合起来，以迅速满足将一种病毒确定为疾病病因的所有假设。结果通过一个安全的网站实时共享，该网站还发布显微镜图片、测试方案和PCR引物序列。每天通过电话会议讨论研究结果。通过实验室之间共享样本和测试材料，进一步推动了研究进展。该网络已鉴定出一种新型冠状病毒，在来自多个国家的非典患者样本中持续检测到，并最终将其命名为非典的病原体；该毒株不同于冠状病毒属的任何其他已知成员。目前有三种诊断测试方法，但都有局限性。
