FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, March 12, 2004 The mouse immune
system develops antibodies capable of single-handedly
neutralizing the SARS virus, researchers at the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) report in
the April 1 issue of the Journal of Virology, now available
online. NIAID is part of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). This discovery affirms that researchers developing
vaccines that trigger antibodies to the SARS virus are heading
in the right direction. Vaccines can stimulate the immune system
to produce antibodies or specialized cells or both to stop
invading viruses. "Since SARS emerged in people in late 2002,
global public health experts have been anxiously awaiting a
vaccine for this potentially fatal respiratory ailment. Knowing
which arm of the immune system to trigger brings us one step
closer to that goal," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
"This is good news for people developing vaccines that would
prime the immune system to produce antibodies again