Treatment and vaccines for severe acute respiratory syndrome

The causative agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which affected over 8000 individuals worldwide and was responsible for over 700 deaths in the 2002-2003 outbreak, is a coronavirus that was unknown before the outbreak. Although many different treatments were used during the outbreak, none were implemented in a controlled fashion. Thus, the optimal treatment for SARS is unknown. Since the outbreak, much work has been done testing new agents against SARS using in-vitro methods and animal models. In addition, global research efforts have focused on the development of vaccines against SARS. Efforts should be made to evaluate the most promising treatments and vaccines in controlled clinical trials, should another SARS outbreak occur.