Vet School scientists will ask Chancellor Emmert and state legislatures for money to create a vaccine for the SARS virus that has caused hundreds of deaths in the past few months.
Severe acute respiratory system, or SARS, is a respiratory illness that is caused from the coronavirus. Coronavirus is a family of viruses found in most animal species, said Kathy O’Reilly from the Vet School.
Researchers think the original coronavirus has recombined with other viruses in animals that has resulted in the virus hopping from animals to humans, O’Reilly said.
SARS symptoms include upper respiratory problems that progress rapidly into pneumonia, O’Reilly said.
The SARS virus has killed more than 225 people in 27 countries.
Asia has been hit the hardest by the virus with 92 deaths in mainland China and 99 deaths in Hong Kong.
O’Reilly said the reason SARS has spread so rapidly in Southeast Asia is due to their agriculture practices.
Southeast Asia does not differentiate livestock.
For example, chicken farmers in the United States deal only with chickens, whereas farmers in Southeast Asia deal with all different types of animals and house multiple species, O’Reilly said.
“Southeast Asia’s agriculture differences make passing the virus between species that much easier,” O’Reilly said.
Gus Kousoulas, director of virology and biotechnology at the Vet School, said the SARS virus is similar in many ways to influenza.
“The danger with SARS is that we have no vaccine or no methods of protection,” Kousoulas said.
O’Reilly and Kousoulas will work with a group of scientists to develop a vaccine.
According to O’Reilly, testing on cattle is the best way to combat the virus because humans and cattle experience very similar responses in the immune system.
Developing a vaccine will not be easy because the SARS virus changes rapidly, Kousoulas said.
“It is a race against time. I think we have six months to come up with some solution against the virus,” Kousoulas said.
Kousoulas said an outbreak in the United States may occur as early as this winter.
He said like influenza, SARS will spread during the cold weather months because people stay indoors.
The threat of SARS to Louisiana is serious, Kousoulas said, because of the state’s large tourism industry.