The effort brings together eight leading public and private research organisations with the aim of identifying genes involved in addiction and advancing the development of new treatment strategies for this serious disease.

Although the role of genetics in susceptibility to addiction has been recognised for some time, the complexity of the disease and the importance of familial environmental risk factors have made isolating genes a formidable challenge. To meet it, this initiative will combine human population genetics with powerful animal genetics and gene-expression strategies. Reykjavik-based deCODE genetics, a biopharmaceutical company and world leader in gene discovery in common diseases, will head the human genetics effort, working with Iceland ™s National Center of Addiction Medicine (SAA).

Professor Ian Kitchen of the School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at the University of Surrey, who heads the research programme said It is very exciting to be able to bring together the capabilities of eight leading groups across Europe. An understanding of the genetics of addiction may give us new insight into the biological basis of addiction and the dysfunction of the addicted brain. This may serve as a first step toward developing treatments that can fight drug craving and relapse, instead of focusing solely on the symptoms of drug withdrawal as we do today.

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That Kawasaki disease may be associated with infection by the newly identified New Haven coronavirus was suggested by findings in the Yale group ™s second study, which was initiated when they found evidence of the virus ™s genetic structure in respiratory secretions from an infant with classic signs of Kawasaki disease. In addition to heart disease, the signs can include conjunctivitis, redness of the mouth or throat, rash, redness or swelling of the hands or feet, and swollen cervical lymph nodes. The investigators then analyzed respiratory secretions from 11 children diagnosed with Kawasaki disease and 22 children without the disease. Eight (73 percent) of the Kawasaki patients but only one (5 percent) of the comparison group tested positive for the New Haven coronavirus.

In an accompanying editorial, Kenneth McIntosh of Harvard University commented that discovery of a new human respiratory coronavirus would not be surprising, since studies in the 1960s and 1970s had pointed to a number of novel coronavirus strains but the findings were not adequately followed up because methods to do so were unavailable at the time. The statistically strong association with Kawasaki disease, however, was quite surprising. Noting that previous attempts to link Kawasaki disease to bacteria or other viruses had failed and thus justified healthy skepticism about the present findings, Dr. McIntosh pointed out some tantalizing facts: onset of Kawasaki disease is often preceded by a respiratory syndrome; both the disease and respiratory coronavirus infections are seasonal, peaking in the winter and spring; recent studies have described a powerful immune response in the respiratory tract and other organs in acute cases of Kawasaki disease, suggesting the involvement of a specific microbe, which may enter the body through the respiratory tract; finally, as the emergence of SARS illustrates, coronaviruses are capable of enormously varied pathogenicity. Despite these encouraging preliminary observations, Dr. McIntosh noted that the association between this novel coronavirus and Kawasaki disease will require confirmation by others in larger future investigations.

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