ATLANTA (AP) — Federal health officials said Thursday they are confident about the accuracy of the main antibody test being used to screen people for SARS.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention administered the test to more than 500 people — some suspected of having SARS, some known not to be infected — and said no one tested positive for the disease who did not have it.

"It's a good test," said Dr. Larry Anderson, a CDC virus expert. "I think it's going to help a lot on understanding SARS."

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Anderson said it is possible that the tests could show false-negatives — that is, people infected with the virus could test negative for the virus — but he said such cases would probably be infrequent.

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