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SARS pre-screening protocol developed for AACR Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

International SOS, the world's largest medical and security assistance company, will be pre-screening all attendees from SARS-affected nations prior to their travel to the meeting. AACR, with SOS, has created a protocol, based on guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), that will identify individuals from affected areas who may have been exposed to SARS patients or who themselves are experiencing symptoms characteristic of the respiratory illness.

The protocol will take the form of a questionnaire that will assess the health of these individuals to determine if they are asymptomatic and able to attend the meeting. Attendees will be able to speak to SOS medical staff in their local language if required.

"We at the AACR place a premium on the safety of those attending our meetings, including those registrants who care for immune-compromised patients with cancer," said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., AACR chief executive officer. "This protocol, developed by AACR with International SOS - a leader in the field of global medical services -- will give us added protection at our Annual Meeting."

In early April, the AACR was forced to cancel its Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada, as a result of the SARS outbreak in that city. The meeting, with an expected attendance of 16,000 people, was subsequently rescheduled for July 11-14, 2003, in the new, state-of-the-art Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

SOS will be providing a toll-free number for attendees to obtain medical advice about SARS. Their website, www.internationalsos.com, also contains the latest information about the disease.

It is important to note that only those persons from nations flagged by the World Health Organization will be pre-screened. However, individuals who do not "pass" the questionnaire will be asked to visit their doctor and obtain written permission to travel to, and attend, the meeting.

Further details about the protocol, plus a toll-free 800 number, will be posted on the AACR website (www.aacr.org) shortly and will be distributed via e-mail blasts to all registrants.

International SOS provides clients with a comprehensive portfolio of medical and security services to ensure that people traveling and working internationally have access to immediate help. Services include 24-hour medical advice, referrals to qualified doctors and hospitals and provisions for emergency medical and security evacuations when there is a critical illness or accident, or civil unrest. The organization has global operations in 69 countries, spanning five continents and employs more than 3,400 dedicated professionals in SOS alarm centers, clinics, and remote medical facilities.

Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is a professional society of more than 20,000 laboratory and clinical scientists engaged in cancer research in the United States and more than 60 other countries. AACR's mission is to accelerate the prevention and cure of cancer through research, education, communication and advocacy. Its principal activities include the publication of five major peer-reviewed scientific journals (Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention). AACR's annual meeting attracts more than 12,000 participants who share new and significant discoveries in the cancer field, and the AACR's specialty meetings throughout the year focus on all the important areas of basic, translational and clinical cancer research.

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