Despite considerable progress in research, a vaccine against the deadly SARS virus will take at least two years to produce, the UN health agency said.
"We must be ready to manage a possible resurgence of SARS through the control measures that work -- surveillance, early diagnosis, hospital infection control, contact tracing and international reporting," Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said Wednesday.
PHOTO: AP
"Research must continue to determine if, how and how soon a vaccine will add to these existing control measures," he said.
Lee was speaking after a conference of 50 researchers from more than 15 countries who considered the information available for the development of a vaccine and how the virus causes disease in humans.
First detected in China a year ago, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome spread to other parts of Asia and to Canada. It sickened more than 8,000 people and killed 774 last winter and spring, according to WHO figures.
The global outbreak was declared over in July, but scientists fear that there could be another outbreak of the disease.
WHO said that if SARS reappears, a vaccine could be produced within two years. If there is no new outbreak, it likely will take four or five years.
"However urgent the need for a vaccine, safety and quality must never be compromised," said Marie-Paule Kieny, head of the WHO's Initiative for Vaccine Research.
"But it is clear the sooner we can develop a vaccine against SARS, the better prepared we will be in case the disease reappears."
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