Fox and cat join civet cat as confirmed SARS carriers

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http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-04/17/content_324179.htm

 

Fox and cat join civet cat as confirmed SARS carriers

(Xinhua)

Updated: 2004-04-17 15:28

 

Chinese scientists have found that the coronavirus

that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

is also carried by foxes and cats, not just civets,

according to the Guangzhou Evening Newspaper.

 

Lin Jinyan, the leader of a SARS control and

prevention research team in south China's Guangdong

Province, reported in a seminar held in Guangzhou that

other wild animals were also found to carry the virus.

 

 

The team had tested thousands of people carrying SARS

antibodies in 16 cities in Guangdong and found that

among 994 people working in animal markets, 10.6

percent carried positive antibodies, and among 123

civet cat husbandry staff, only 3.25 percent tested

positive.

 

Experts have also tested foxes, hedgeshrews and cats

collected in the province and discovered that some

carried the SARS coronavirus.

 

On January 16, World Health Organization experts

claimed that SARS or a SARS-like coronavirus was

linked to civet cats.

 

WHO epidemiologist Robert Breiman said it's possible

that other animals were also involved in the spread of

SARS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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