Sars anti-bodies isolated

Monday, 26 May 2003 12:00 AM

Researchers based in southern China, who contend that the deadly sars virus is linked to the civet cat, claim that important anti-bodies have been found in wild animal traders, who are seemingly immune to the atypical pneumonia.

On Friday, scientists announced a near 100 per cent similarity between the sars coronavirus and the one found in civet cats and raccoons.

In China's Yangcheng Evening News on Saturday, He Yaqing, deputy director of the Shenzhen Centre for Disease Control, said antibodies had been found in five traders - four of whom worked with rabbits, cats and other wild animals; the other worked with poultry and other wild birds.

None of them developed any symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome, the scientist said.

The report said the traders appeared to have contracted the disease but cured themselves of it without displaying any of the symptoms.

The findings suggest the coronavirus, suspected to have passed on from the civet cat to humans was less lethal than the sars coronavirus transmitted between humans.

Researchers contend that once passed on from animals, sars undergoes changes that renders it more lethal to humans.

WHO said if the report has some credence, it could be a 'very significant step' forward in the fight against the flu-like disease which has claimed some 700 lives and infected more than 8000.

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