Originally published March 4 2005
The killer virus SARS is completely eradicated, scientists claim
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, known as SARS, which killed 774 people in 2002 and 2003 no longer exists, outside laboratories where it is being studied, scientists say. For recurrence, the virus would have to develop from scratch, and even if it did, the University of Colorado's Kathryn Holmes says officials would be well prepared for it. A similar virus has been found in Himalayan civet cats, but experts say it is not a threat to humans.
nd of Sars as a deadly threat By Mark Henderson Virus has been eradicated, American Association for the Advancement of Science is told THE killer Sars virus has been contained so effectively that it can be considered eradicated outside laboratories, scientists said yesterday.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome killed 774 people between November 2002 and June 2003 but it is is no longer circulating in human beings or animals, according to research that ends fears that fresh outbreaks could emerge from natural reservoirs still harbouring the disease.
For Sars to return as a threat, it would have to evolve again from scratch or be released in a laboratory accident or bio terror attack, the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference heard.
Even if Sars or a related coronavirus reappeared, the world would be well prepared for dealing with it, Kathryn Holmes, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Colorado, said.
Several vaccines against Sars have been developed, along with treatments that block infection, and the quarantine measures needed to contain its spread are much better understood.
Professor Holmes, a former president of the American Society for Virology who has studied coronaviruses for 28 years, said it was clear that Sars would not become an endemic disease, carried by animals or unaffected people and causing seasonal outbreaks.
New research has shown that a coronavirus that caused four cases of respiratory disease in southern China was not Sars, and that the country's Himalayan palm civets, thought to be the most likely source of the Sars virus, do not harbour the epidemic strain.
"The epidemic strain has not been seen in nature since June 2003," she said.
The viral strains recently isolated from Himalayan palm civets do not resemble the viral strain from the epidemic."
Scientists are confident that Sars no longer exists in the wild and has essentially disappeared as a threat, she said.
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