FW:SARS - WORLDWIDE (129): ORIGIN, SPECULATION

[Guest guest]

SARS - WORLDWIDE (129): ORIGIN, SPECULATION

*******************************************

A ProMED-mail post

<http://www.promedmail.org>

ProMED-mail is a program of the

International Society for Infectious Diseases

<http://www.isid.org>

 

[1]

Sat, 31 May 2003

ProMED-mail <promed

Source: OIE press release, 28 May 2003 [edited]

<http://www.oie.int/eng/press/en_last.htm>

 

SARS virus in civet cat

------------------------

On the basis of recent information of the World Health

Organization which traced the SARS virus to a civet

cat and 2 other small mammals in China, the World

Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) states the

following:

 

- as mentioned in its previous information (see press

release of 11 Apr 2003), the OIE still does not

dispose of any scientific evidence to suggest that

SARS-related disease has occurred in animals.

 

- Therefore, the OIE continues the monitoring of the

evolution of the disease and undertakes a very close

collaboration with the World Health Organization as

well as with the scientists of the OIE Reference

Laboratories on the subject.

 

--

ProMED-mail

<promed

 

******

[2]

31 May 2003

ProMED-mail <promed

Source: Nature 31 May 2003 [edited]

<http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/Gateway.taf?g=5 & file=/drugdisc/news/articles/4234\

67a.html & filetype= & _UserReference=>

 

Virus detectives seek source of SARS in China's wild

animals

-----------------------------

Researchers investigating the source of severe acute

respiratory syndrome (SARS) have turned their

attention to the wild-animal markets of southern

China. The move follows reports that workers and

animals at the markets show high rates of infection

with coronaviruses, the family to which the virus

believed to cause SARS belongs.

 

The possible link to wild animals emerged on 23 May

2003, when a team from the University of Hong Kong

revealed that a coronavirus resembling the SARS virus

had been isolated from 6 masked palm civets (_Paguma

larvata_) and a raccoon dog (_Nyctereutes

procyonoides_) in a market in Shenzhen, in the

southern Chinese province of Guangdong. Antibodies

against the virus were also found in a Chinese ferret

badger (_Melogale moschata_) from the same market.

 

Although the virus is not the same as that believed to

cause SARS -- a member of the Hong Kong team describes

it as " genetically very close, but not identical " -- 5

out of the 10 civet handlers at the market had

antibodies against the SARS virus in their blood. A

Chinese government team has since released results

showing that 66 out of 508 animal handlers tested at

markets in Guangdong had antibodies against the SARS

virus.

 

Microbiologist Kwok-yung Yuen, who led the Hong Kong

team, notes that in the general population, the level

of antibodies against the SARS virus is much lower.

" This suggests that the virus is jumping from wild

animals to humans, " he says.

 

Because the animal virus is similar to the SARS virus,

but different from other coronaviruses, it is now a

prime suspect in the hunt for the origins of SARS. The

likelihood that the virus is moving the other way --

from humans to animals -- is diminished by ongoing

work on genetic sequences of the 2 viruses. These

analyses suggest that the animal version has an extra

stretch of 29 nucleotide bases. " Viruses tend not to

gain stretches of nucleotides when they jump across

species, " says Klaus Stoehr, a SARS expert at the

World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.

 

But uncertainties remain over the exact source of the

virus. Only 6 civets were present in the market, and

the fact that they all had the virus suggests that

they were infected recently. " They could have gotten

it from another animal during transport to the

markets, " says Zhang-liang Chen, a molecular biologist

and president of the China Agricultural University in

Beijing. Chen's group did not find the SARS virus in

samples from 8 civets taken from other markets and in

the wild in Guangdong.

 

[byline: David Cyranoski and Alison Abbott]

 

--

ProMED-mail

<promed

 

[see ProMED-mail's moderator's comment in posting

20030525.1290.

 

Authentic, detailed, first-hand data on the findings

from the cited investigators will improve our ability

to evaluate the role of animals as a source of SARS

in China. We would also appreciate information on the

identity of the incriminated species. According to the

World Chelonian Trust web-site

<http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/Palm_Civits_SARS.htm>,

the relevant animal is the Palm Civet, _Paguma

larvata_. - Mod AS].

 

[Perhaps the most significant aspect of the above

report from Nature is that some animals in other

markets or in the wild have tested negative for the

SARS coronavirus. So it is possible that the animals

in the market in Shenzhen may have been infected from

an unknown animal or human source. A potential animal

reservoir and the direction of transmission of the

virus are still unresolved issues.

 

Dr. Henry L Niman, (Instructor in Surgery

(Bioengineering) Harvard Medical School

<henry_niman) has observed that,

irrespective of the biological data, the molecular

story remains clear at this time. 16 of the 17

available SARS coronavirus genome sequences have the

same 29-nucleotide deletion (the GZ01 sequence being

the single exception), whereas the genome sequences of

at least 2 civet cats (and the GZ01 sequence) have the

same corresponding 29-nucleotide insertion. It is

clear, however, that more data are required before the

biological relevance of this 29-nucleotide

deletion/insertion can be assessed. - Mod.CP]

 

[see also:

SARS - worldwide (122): cases 20030526.1295

SARS - worldwide (121): cases 20030526.1292

SARS - worldwide (120): origin, speculation

20030525.1290

SARS - worldwide (118) cases 20030523.1270

SARS - worldwide (117): etiology 20030523.1267]

.......................arn/jw/cp/mpp/pg/lm

 

 

 

 

Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook.

http://calendar.