Summary of the discussion and recommendations of the SARS laboratory workshop

Overview

An informal SARS Laboratory Workshop was held at WHO, Geneva, on Wednesday, 22 October 2003, to discuss aspects of the laboratory diagnosis of SARS coronavirus (CoV) infection pertaining to the standardization of test protocols and reagents, the development of a panel of positive control sera for diagnostic serology, the development of a set of strategic plans or algorithms to provide guidance to laboratories about testing of specimens from patients with atypical pneumonia in non-epidemic periods, and biosafety and biocontainment issues in laboratories working with live SARS CoV. The workshop brought together 27 members of a new enlarged laboratory network from 15 countries and regions and a further 7 observers.