Laboratory tests

Due to the efforts of the WHO-led international multi-center collaborative network of laboratories testing for SARS, tests for the novel coronavirus have been developed with unprecedented speed (SARS: Laboratory diagnostic tests – 29 April 2003; http://www.who.int/csr/sars/diagnostictests/en/). Samples from suspected and probable SARS cases have been tested for SARS-CoV for some time in several countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Nevertheless, until standardized reagents for virus and antibody detection become available and methods have been adequately field tested, the diagnosis of SARS remains based on clinical and epidemiological findings. The revised case definition from May 1, 2003, (see: http://www.who.int/csr/sars/casedefinition/en/) includes laboratory results for the first time: a suspected case of SARS, that is positive for SARS-CoV in one or more assays, should be reclassified as a probable