Word: civets
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...soup off the menu following public protests over the damage that widespread consumption of the popular Chinese dish was doing to global shark populations. During the 2003 SARS crisis, wildlife activists dared to hope?briefly?that real change was possible. Scientists concluded that SARS had passed from wild civet cats to humans, most likely because the civets are a popular winter dish in China's ye wei or "wild taste" restaurants, which specialize in exotic meats. To safeguard public health, China's wild animal markets were closed, and ye wei restaurants emptied out as officials strictly enforced existing laws with...
...Spare the Civet! The Chinese government has begun culling masked palm civet cats in Guangdong wildlife markets after tests suggested a link to a possible SARS case in that southern Chinese province [Jan. 19]. Surely the first SARS outbreak should have taught the Chinese to modify their eating habits. Severe penalties should be imposed on restaurants still serving civet. The thought of thousands of these pretty creatures being slaughtered is extremely distressing. Can't we call upon organizations concerned with animal welfare to request a release into the wild of civets and the complete ban on their capture...
...Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, which he also sent to the Ministry of Health and the China CDC. "With winter coming, the wildlife markets have reopened, providing the perfect conditions for another outbreak of SARS," he wrote. He went on to list his findings that the civet is the major carrier of the SARS coronavirus, that the SARS coronavirus exists in different animals from different regions, that this virus can infect humans and, most frightening, that the "transmitting mechanism for the resurgence of SARS is in place." He enclosed four pages of genetic sequences taken from civets...
Officials at the Guangdong CDC, while confident that culling the civets was necessary, are not totally convinced that it will curtail an outbreak. They have ordered a further extermination of rats--a much more elusive target--because of evidence that they carry a similar virus. Dr. Rob Breiman, an epidemiologist from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is leading the WHO team currently tracing the origins of last year's epidemic in Guangdong. Breiman observes, "Everyone certainly thinks this is meaningful. But where is the civet cat in the chain? Are they getting it from another animal...
Infectious diseases routinely leap from animals to humans, often with devastating effects. AIDS and Ebola originated in apes, Creutzfeldt-Jakob in cattle, West Nile in birds and SARS in a little-known animal called the palm civet. Last year the exotic-pet trade took a 3-lb. Gambian rat from Africa to Wisconsin, where it infected a prairie dog with monkeypox--the first occurrence in North America. From the prairie dog, it jumped to a human and ultimately to 87 people in six Midwestern states. Increased globalization means these alien diseases are borne around the world with appalling speed. Makes...