Word: viruses
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...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 and had the letter hand-delivered on Jan. 2. Within hours the Ministry of Health in Beijing passed the letter...
...have to ask yourself, is this real or is this fabricated?" In turn, Yi asked his counterparts if they had the sequences for the human patient now recovering in Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital. They produced their documents. It turned out they had not yet analyzed this virus' phylogenetic origins, the RNA road map that would offer some understanding of how this particular strain would be related to those previously gathered. Yi suggested they send their sequences to his lab in Hong Kong, where his technicians and assistants were standing by to use their computer modeling programs to analyze...
...data that returned just an hour later revealed that the two viruses were more than similar: they were almost identical. The 14 amino-acid sequences concurred, which meant that the viruses not only belonged to the same phylogenetic tree, they were also both on the same branch--and practically on the same leaf. The virus that was in those wild-animal markets had somehow infected a human being. The data were so compelling that the committee resolved that afternoon to phone the provincial governor and recommend a culling of 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...
...Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., a pioneer in establishing the zoonotic origins of many influenzas, says, "The research is solid, but still, Yi has certainly stuck his neck way out there on this one." Yi, as usual, is dismissive of any doubts. Back in Hong Kong, he explains how the virus found in other animals such as badgers is genetically less similar to the strains found in humans, before vowing that culling civets "will break the chain of infection...