Isolation and Characterization of Viruses Related to the SARS Coronavirus from Animals in Southern China (original) (raw)

Published October 31, 2003 | Version v1

Journal article Open

Authors/Creators

• Guan, Y.
• Zheng, B. J.
• He, Y. Q.
• Liu, X. L.
• Zhuang, Z. X.
• Cheung, C. L.
• Luo, S. W.
• Li, P. H.
• Zhang, L. J.
• Guan, Y. J.
• Butt, K. M.
• Wong, K. L.
• Chan, K. W.
• Lim, W.
• Shortridge, K. F.
• Yuen, K. Y.
• Peiris, J. S. M.
• Poon, L. L. M.

Description

A novel coronavirus (SCoV) is the etiological agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). SCoV-like viruses were isolated from Himalayan palm civets found in a live-animal market in Guangdong, China. Evidence of virus infection was also detected in other animals (including a raccoon dog, Nyctereutes procyonoides) and in humans working at the same market. All the animal isolates retain a 29-nucleotide sequence that is not found in most human isolates. The detection of SCoV-like viruses in small, live wild mammals in a retail market indicates a route of interspecies transmission, although the natural reservoir is not known. Civet cats, a raccoon dog, and a ferret badger in an animal market in Gunagdong, China, were infected with a coronavirus identical to the one that causes SARS in humans save for an extra 29-nucleotide sequence. Civet cats, a raccoon dog, and a ferret badger in an animal market in Gunagdong, China, were infected with a coronavirus identical to the one that causes SARS in humans save for an extra 29-nucleotide sequence.

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Additional details

(Nyctereutes procyonoides, raccoon dog) → (SCoV-like viruses)

(Paguma larvata, Himalayan palm civets) → (SCoV-like viruses)