DOCUMENTS SUR LA PNEUMOPATHIE ATYPIQUE

Extrait du Quotidien du Peuple sur le coronavirus chez la civette et le raton laveur

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Chinese scientists have traced the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus back to a similar virus found in the civet cat and the raccoon dog, both animals found in the wild in China and elsewhere. Scientists have detected four isolates of a SARS-like coronavirus through a PT-PCR (reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction) diagnostic test -- which allows detection of the distinctive genetic information for SARS -- from six Himalayan palm civets and a raccoon they took as samples from a market in Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province on May 8. Guan Yi, a doctor at the University of Hong Kong's Department of Microbiology, said: "We have charted a complete genetic map of the SARS-like coronavirus detected in the Himalayan palm civet, which shares 99.8 percent of the genetic code of the human SARS coronavirus.'' According to the joint research by the University of Hong Kong and Shenzhen Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, there are only a minimal 80 differences in the 29,780 or so nuleotide and amino-acid substitutions between the coronavirus in humans and that in Himalayan palm civets, which are catlike mammals. Yuen Kwok-yung, head of microbiology at the university, said animals kept for food should be raised, slaughtered and sold with careful monitoring to prevent more outbreaks of SARS in people. However, officials with the National Headquarters for SARS Prevention and Control said earlier on Friday that they had not heard of the research results and declined to comment. The WHO announced in the Swiss city of Geneva that it had removed its travel warning for Hong Kong and Guangdong Province beginning on Friday this week, according to the Chinese Ministry of Health. The WHO said it took the decision because the SARS situation in these areas had improved significantly. On Thursday, the WHO proposed establishing a worldwide system for disease surveillance and response to fight SARS, including building epidemiology and public health laboratory facilities in China and the surrounding regions. The study by the University of Hong Kong linking civet cats to the coronavirus that causes SARS was described on Friday as a "significant breakthrough'' by the World Health Organization. "If these findings are true, then this is a significant breakthrough,'' Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the Manila-based WHO Western Pacific regional office, was quoted as saying in the Philippine Star online edition.

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Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the finding announced by Hong Kong scientists of possible cause of SARS virus from civet cats as "important," according to news reaching here from the organization Saturday. WHO said the new finding would help direct future research into the virus. Scientists have been researching on the possible links between wild animals and the killer virus since the disease broke out. Francois Meslin, a WHO expert on diseases acquired from animals, told reporters the findings are "clearly quite exciting." However, he also noted it is still too early to draw final conclusions on those findings. Meslin said it still cannot rule out the possibility the animals acquired the virus from humans, or that the virus jumped to humans from another animal altogether. Hours after WHO lifted the travel advisory against Hong Kong on Friday, scientists from the University of Hong Kong announced they had successfully isolated a type of coronavirus that causes SARS and it came from civet cats. Professor Yuen Kwok Yung, head of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, said they believe the SARS virus jumped straight from civet cats to people. However, He also acknowledged they could not rule out the possibility other animals were involved in the transmission chain. Yuen's team made the research in collaboration with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Shenzhen. They tested a large number of animals in south China's Guangdong province, including civet cats, wild rabbits and barking deer, and found coronavirus in four masked palm civets. Civets, belonging to a large group of mostly nocturnal mammals, are not a true cat though they look like cats. The masked palm civets are one type of civets cats which have a white and black striped face. Yuen said it was important that the civet cats and other game food animals should be raised, slaughtered and sold under careful monitoring to prevent more outbreaks of SARS in people. "If you cannot control further jumping of such viruses from animals to humans, the same epidemic can occur again," he said. Yuen's team had previously said SARS came from animals but they had not been sure which kind. His team is the earliest in the world to identify that SARS virus is a type of coronavirus.

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