Research refers to civet cat as carrier of SARS coronavirus

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 05, 2004

Research refers to civet cat as carrier of SARS coronavirus

Experts Monday say civet cat is most probably one of the carriers of the coronavirus causing SARS as tests indicate it shares a similar genetic structure with human SARS corona virus.

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Experts Monday say civet cat is most probably one of the carriers of the coronavirus causing SARS as tests indicate it shares a similar genetic structure with human SARS corona virus.

The Guangdong provincial center for diseases control and prevention (CDC) announced that experts from the University of Hong Kong had found large quantities of the SARS-like coronavirus from civet cats and other wildlife collected from markets in Guangzhou and Shenzhen cities.

Further research found that the S gene sequence of the coronavirus from civet cats and that of the recently-detected SARS suspect in Guangdong were "highly homological" and were from "the same phylogenetic tree," said Xu Ruiheng, deputy director of the CDC.

Experts called for earlier SARS-prevention measures and improved administration of civet cats, badgers, raccoon dogs and other animals, so as to reduce the chance of contracting the SARS virus from wildlife.

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