Bats, civets and the emergence of SARS.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was the first pandemic transmissible disease of previously unknown aetiology in the twenty-first century. Early epidemiologic investigations suggested an animal origin for SARS-CoV. Virological and serological studies indicated that masked palm civets ( Paguma larvata), together with two other wildlife animals, sampled from a live animal market were infected with SARS-CoV or a closely related virus. Recently, horseshoe bats in the genus Rhinolophus have been identified as natural reservoir of SARS-like coronaviruses. Here, we review studies by different groups demonstrating that SARS-CoV succeeded in spillover from a wildlife reservoir (probably bats) to human population via an intermediate host(s) and that rapid virus evolution played a key role in the adaptation of SARS-CoVs in at least two nonreservoir species within a short period.
Wang
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CSIRO Livestock Industries, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria, 3220 Australia. Linfa.Wang@csiro.au
Eaton
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BT
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000821:virology*; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000662:veterinary; D006801:Humans; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D013045:Species Specificity; D045949:Viverridae / Q000821:virology; D015047:Zoonoses