Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine will receive up to $6.2 million over five years from the National Institute Of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to develop a vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome, commonly called SARS.

Under the electron microscope, a coronavirus may resemble a spiny sea urchin or appear crownlike, (the shape from which this family of pathogens takes its name).

Research published in PLoS Medicine this week by Weijia Xing and colleagues examines the publication of epidemiological literature concerning the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreaks in Hong Kong and Toronto.

This week in PLoS Medicine we continue our series on Global Health Diplomacy with a case study examining whether the SARS epidemic was a "watershed" for China's engagement in global health diplomacy.

Ever since the previously unknown SARS virus emerged from southern China in 2003, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston virologists have focused on finding the source of the pathogen's virulence — its ability to cause disease.