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US may exert rigid control over SARS

15 May 2004

The US Centers for Disease Control is considering adding the SARS virus to the list of “select agents” it regards as potential bioweapons. In the US, researchers working with pathogens on the list, including anthrax and Ebola, must register with authorities.

The concern follows a series of incidents in which lab workers have been infected by the virus. The latest, in China, sparked an outbreak in which nine people have developed SARS so far. As the disease has not reappeared from other sources, labs may now be the only source of the virus that caused last year’s epidemic, in which…

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