DECODING OF SARS VIRUS REVEALS ANIMAL ORIGINS

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From AnimalNet, today

 

DECODING OF SARS VIRUS REVEALS ANIMAL ORIGINS

April 14, 2003 Globe and Mail/N.Y. Times Toronto -

 

The prime viral suspect behind the worldwide SARS outbreak is a

measly microbe of no more than 10 genes that began its life in an

animal long ago, mutating millions of times before picking up the

power to infect people.

 

This is the early analysis from British Columbia scientists who

became the first in the world Saturday to complete a genetic

sequence of the mysterious coronavirus linked to severe acute

respiratory syndrome. Their lab work has taken on crucial

significance now that the World Health Organization team that

visited China's Guangdong province, where SARS is believed to

have originated, suspects field work may never reveal the source of

the disease.

 

The stories say that SARS has since infected at least 2,960

people and killed 119 worldwide. Canada has 283 suspected or

probable cases, 232 of them in Ontario where another three people

died over the weekend, bringing Canada's SARS death toll to 13.

All three new victims were women, aged 80, 86 and 73, who

suffered from other underlying medical conditions. Caroline Astell,

a molecular virologist and project leader at the B.C. Cancer

Agency's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, was cited as

saying that one of Canada's advantages came from receiving a

virus sample that was not contaminated with human DNA.

Scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg

" purified " the genetic material of the coronavirus before sending it to

Vancouver, she said. Coronaviruses are chiefly known as a leading

cause of the common cold and more severe disease in animals.

But this new virus, Dr. Astell said, does not appear to be closely

related to any of the three known groups.

 

Dr. Astell was cited as saying this new virus does not seem to

carry any foreign genes, but rather, it seems to have undergone

natural mutations, without increasing in size, that have since

allowed it to invade human hosts, adding, " [This virus] has been out

there in some animal, and it has been out there for ages until it

mutated and somehow got into humans. I don't believe a brand-new

virus just appears overnight. " While there has been a sense that

this coronavirus originated in cattle, Dr. Astell said any animal is a

possibility at this point ‹ including fish. B.C. scientists have posted

the viral sequence on the Internet for researchers around the world

to investigate further and perhaps use to create a vaccine.

 

But Frank Plummer, scientific director of the national Winnipeg lab,

cautioned that roughly half of people infected with SARS are still

testing negative for this coronavirus. Meanwhile, he added, people

with no connection to China or the Toronto outbreak or SARS

symptoms have tested positive.

 

The story says that the WHO team did notice that 5 per cent of

those infected in the South China province happened to be food

handlers, such as chefs working with exotic menu items such as

snake or monkey brains. As well, a shrimp salesman who was

infected was one of the area's known " super spreaders, " who

passed on the disease to 90 health workers in three hospitals. But

since food-handling professions are both popular and prestigious in

China, Dr. Maguire said it is hard to say if this connection is

anything more than coincidence.

 

Best regards,

 

 

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