Isolation and Characterization of Viruses Related to the SARS Coronavirus from Animals in Southern China
Abstract
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.
- Publication:
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Science
- Pub Date:
- October 2003
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 2003Sci...302..276G
- Keywords:
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- VIROLOGY