SARS vaccine volunteers 'in good condition'

Thirty-six Chinese volunteers participating in the world’s first SARS human vaccine tests are “in good condition”, the official Xinhua News Agency said today.

SARS killed 349 people on the mainland before subsiding in July 2003. Two small-scale outbreaks in Beijing and Guangdong since have resulted in one death.

Criticised at first for being reticent about releasing information about the disease, China has since spearheaded research in the disease, saying it is the first country to reach the stage of testing a SARS vaccine on humans.

The volunteers were injected between May and August as part of China’s aggressive research aimed at preventing a new outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which first emerged in 2002 in the southern province of Guangdong.

The antibodies in the volunteers’ blood have increased during the tests, but it is too soon to tell if the vaccine is effective, Xinhua said, citing Dr. Zhong Nanshan, a SARS expert.

He said results of the tests will be released in January.

Except for some fever and discomfort, “volunteers showed no other adverse reactions and their health was in good condition”, Xinhua said.

The 36, aged 21 to 40, were a second batch of volunteers to receive the vaccine. Three men and one woman, all university students, were first vaccinated in May. The government also said they had done well.

In both vaccine tests, a dead sample of the SARS virus was reportedly used. There has been no indication whether volunteers might be exposed to the live virus as part of testing.