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Sars anti-bodies found
25/05/2003 07:56 - (SA)
Guangzhou, China - Researchers in southern China who traced the virus that causes Sars to the endangered civet cat, said Sars anti-bodies have been found in traders of wild animals who did not develop the symptoms of the disease, according to press reports seen on Sunday.
Researchers found Sars anti-bodies in five traders of wild animals, but none of them developed any symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome, He Yaqing, deputy director of the Shenzhen Centre for Disease Control, told Saturday's Yangcheng Evening News.
The findings suggest that the form of the coronavirus that is suspected to have jumped from either the civet cat or the raccoon dog to humans was actually less lethal than the Sars coronavirus transmitted between humans that has gone on to kill nearly 700 and infected more than 8 000 world-wide.
After jumping from the animals, the Sars virus in order underwent changes that made it more lethal to humans, the researcher said.
"The survey of wild animal traders with Sars anti-bodies shows that these traders once had Sars, and while curing themselves without showing any clear symptoms, were infected recessively," the report said.
The report did not say how many traders were tested for Sars anti-bodies, nor was it clear if the traders were a source of transmission of the global Sars epidemic.
However, the researchers said the traders were not infectious after they had recovered.
Of the five traders, four worked with rabbits, cats and other wild animals, while one of them worked with poultry and other wild birds, the report said.
Researchers have long suspected that a new strain of the coronavirus, long known as a cause of the common cold, was the behind the Sars epidemic. On Friday they announced a nearly 100 percent similarity between the Sars coronavirus and that found in civet cats and raccoons. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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