New Developments Related to SARS

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA, USA) has announced that the importation of palm civets into the United States is banned until further notice. Civets are regarded as potential carriers of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus.

Growing indirect evidence suggested that exposure to certain wild animals might be associated with SARS infection, although there has been no evidence that humans have become infected with the virus from direct contact with certain wild animals. However, the epidemiology of the initial outbreak suggests that there may have been multiple introductions from animals to humans. To date, a SARS-like coronavirus has been isolated from many palm civets, and the government of Guangdong province in China has ordered that civet cats be eradicated. The U.S. order does not include restrictions on the domestic movement of civets already in the country.

A second development relating to SARS is the announced finding by the Chinese University of Hong Kong that two genetic markers can help predict the outcome of SARS in patients. Those with a genetic marker known as HLA-DRB1-0301 show more resistance against SARS, while those with HLA-B-0703 have a much greater risk of becoming infected with SARS. The results were based on an analysis of blood samples of 90 SARS patients, aged 22-85, compared to the blood samples from almost 19,000 bone marrow donors in Hong Kong. The researchers say the markers could help doctors identify high-risk people and treat them more aggressively. They caution, however, that their findings are preliminary.





Related Links:
CDC
Chinese U. of Hong Kong