BBC NEWS | Health | Deadly Sars virus found in = tears

From: Subject: BBC NEWS | Health | Deadly Sars virus found in tears Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 08:42:03 +0300 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0022_01C4576B.A010CFB0"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0022_01C4576B.A010CFB0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3819209.stm BBC NEWS | Health | Deadly Sars virus found in = tears

3D"BBC

Deadly Sars virus found in tears

The deadly Sars virus has been found in tears, it has = been=20 announced.

Doctors in Singapore swabbed the tear ducts of 36 patients with = suspected=20 Sars in April 2003. Eight of these were later diagnosed with probable = Sars.=20

The doctors have now revealed that they found signs of Sars in the = tears of=20 three of these patients.=20

Writing in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, they said the = findings=20 suggest the virus could be transmitted through tears.=20

Infected thousands

The highly infectious respiratory illness Severe Acute Respiratory = Syndrome,=20 or Sars, first emerged in China's southern province of Guangdong in late = 2002.=20

It affected more than 8,000 people throughout 2003 in dozens of = countries=20 worldwide and claimed the lives of 774.=20

A much smaller outbreak occurred earlier this year. Many scientists = believe=20 the virus is here to stay.=20

This may be a simple tool in identifying = probably=20 cases in future
Dr Seng Chee Loon=20

There is still no vaccine to protect against Sars and = there is no=20 specific cure, although existing drugs appear to work for some people.=20

Scientists are trying to develop a test which would enable doctors to = diagnose the virus earlier.=20

Dr Seng Chee Loon and colleagues at Singapore's National University = say=20 analysing tear samples could be one way of spotting the virus.=20

The three patients who had signs of Sars in their tear ducts were all = believed to be in the early stages of infection.=20

They had all been tested within nine days of their symptoms starting. =

Early stages

The remaining patients, who had no signs of the virus in their tears = but were=20 later diagnosed with probable Sars, were tested at least 11 days after = the start=20 of their symptoms.=20

The doctors suggested that Sars may only be present in the tear ducts = in the=20 early stages of the virus.=20

Signs of other viruses, such as herpes, hepatitis and measles, have = also been=20 detected in tears.=20

The doctors are now planning to carry out further tests to see if = analysing=20 tears could be a way of spotting Sars.=20

"Even as the epidemic has died down, we are warned of future = outbreaks.=20

"This may be a simple tool in identifying probably cases in future = and=20 prospective trials are being designed for this purpose," they wrote.=20

Story from BBC=20 NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/3819209.stm

= Published:=20 2004/06/20 23:08:24 GMT

=A9 BBC MMIV

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