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Science & Health
Drug Does Not Work Against SARS
Matthew Herper , 04.11.03, 9:39 AM ET

LYON, FRANCE - Scientists are increasingly certain they have identified the precise virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome. Unfortunately, one drug that has been widely tipped as a treatment for the disease does not kill the SARS virus in a petri dish, seriously denting any hope that the drug will be effective at treating SARS in people.




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Some doctors had reported positive results using ribavirin, an anti-viral medicine used mostly against hepatitis C, as a treatment for SARS patients who had been worst-hit by the disease in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Unfortunately, these anecdotal results did not hold up in the laboratory, according to Klaus Stöhr, a head of the global influenza program at the World Health Organization.