China scientists say SARS-civet cat link proved
Pastor Dale Morgan
China scientists say SARS-civet cat link proved*
23 Nov 2006 02:14:10 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, Nov 23 (Reuters) - A joint China-Hong Kong research team says
it has found a genetic link between SARS in civet cats and humans,
bearing out claims that the disease had jumped across species, state
media said on Thursday.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome emerged in southern China in 2002,
swept through the province of Guangdong and spread globally in 2003,
infecting 8,000 people and killing 800.
Hong Kong scientists have previously said the SARS virus jumped from
civet cat, a delicacy in southern China, to humans and quickly developed
the ability to pass from person to person.
World Health Organization experts also found evidence of the virus in
cages in a restaurant where a patient served up civet dishes.
That evidence was enough for Guangdong authorities to cull thousands of
civet cats in January 2004 and permanently ban their sale and consumption.
But the raccoon-like animals, unrelated to cats, are still being sold in
markets around the provincial capital, Guangzhou.
The research project, jointly conducted by the Chinese Centre for
Disease Control and Prevention, the Guangzhou Centre for Disease Control
and Prevention, and Hong Kong University, was believed to be the first
to find a genetic basis for how SARS spread, the China Daily said on
Thursday.
"Our research has shown that the SARS coronavirus found in human victims
is the same as the SARS coronavirus found in civet cats," the paper
quoted Wang Ming, an official from the Guangzhou Centre for Disease
Control and Prevention, as saying.
Scientists discovered the virus had the same genetic profile after
running tests on six SARS-carrying civet cats taken from a restaurant in
early 2004, where a female worker had been diagnosed with the illness,
the China Daily said.
"This discovery proves that civet cats are capable of spreading the SARS
virus to human beings," Wang was quoted as saying.
The announcement came as police officials in Guangzhou announced a
city-wide campaign to fight the illegal sale of wild animals,
particularly civet cats, the paper said.