Sars antibodies found in China's wild animal traders

[goldenbuddha]

The human body is just amazing sometimes......

*****

GUANGZHOU -- Researchers in southern China who traced the virus that causes Sars to the endangered civet cat, said Sars antibodies 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 antibodies in five traders of wild animals, but none of them developed any symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Shenzhen Center for Disease Control's deputy director He Yaqing said on 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 over 700 and infected more than 8,000 worldwide.

After jumping from the animals, the Sars virus underwent changes that made it more lethal to humans, the researcher said.

'The survey of wild animal traders with Sars antibodies shows that these traders once had Sars,' the report said.

They had been infected without knowing it and had managed to cure themselves without showing any clear symptoms, it said.

The report did not say how many traders were tested for Sars antibodies, 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. -- AFP

[RADAR1797]

So you mean it might not have come from space?

-RADAR

Yep, that makes sense to me.

Cheers
Mick

BTW, this is the official WHO comment on this:

Information on the potential role of animals in the transmission of SARS is important to overall understanding of SARS. Much more research is needed before any firm conclusions can be reached. At present, no evidence exists to suggest that these wild animal species play a significant role in the epidemiology of SARS outbreaks. However, it cannot be ruled out that these animals might have been a source of human infection.....The study provides a first indication that the SARS virus exists outside a human host. However, many fundamental questions remain. Samples were taken from one market only. Studies need to determine how widespread the SARS virus might be in animals in Guangdong and elsewhere, and if these animals can excrete virus in an amount sufficient to infect humans. Furthermore, the possibility of animal-to-animal transmission has to be investigated. For example, the presence of virus could result from consumption of an infected prey.

Cheers
Mick

[vass0922]

So wouldn't it be possible to use the existing antibodies from the traders to do studies on possible vaccines for the current SARS?
Its a different strain of SARS of course, but it could at least point us in the right direction?

At least that's what they did in the movie outbreak
(except they found the original host)

They already have antibodies, vass. From current cases. Vaccine is on the list of things-to-do, and in fact a few DC projects are trying to help with better target binding information (including FAD, of course! ).

It doesn't always come as easily as it does in the movies, though.

Cheers
Mick

[goldenbuddha]

And at this point, I think they will kinda ignore the fact about the legality of wild animal trading (like tigers and such) =)

[osprey4]

The concept of "legal" is a rather loose one in China.

So now it would appear that the civets, traders and the virus all came from outer space. That spaceship that delivered SARS must have been a bit crowded.