HK Researchers say Civet Likely Source of Sars

HONG KONG -- The coronavirus which causes Sars has been traced to the civet, a wild animal that is considered a delicacy in southern China, researchers said here on Friday, hailing the finding as a major breakthrough.

Civets are from the same family as the mongoose and have cat-like bodies, long tails and weasel-like faces.

Hong Kong University biologist Yuen Kwok-yuen told reporters that researchers from HKU and health officials in southern China 'had successfully isolated the coronavirus causing Sars from civet cats'.

'From a special type of civet cat, we were able to isolate a coronavirus. And the coronavirus, after genomic analysis, was found to be very, very similar to the coronavirus causing Sars in humans.

'Looking at genetic information, it looks as if this coronavirus has been jumping from the civet cat to humans,' he said.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome first emerged in November in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, where wildlife restaurants are known to serve up a range of exotic and sometimes endangered species.

Mr Yuen said researchers could not exclude the possibility the coronavirus originated in another smaller animal which infected the civet before it, in turn, infected humans.

But he added that 'looking at the genetic information, it looks very likely that the virus has been jumping from the civet to humans'.

He said that to prevent further jumping of the virus from civets to humans, it was vital that any animals bred for human consumption should be kept in farms with proper immunisation against the Sars coronavirus.

The World Health Organisation on Friday cautiously welcomed the HKU findings.

Mr Peter Cordingley, the spokesman for the Manila-based WHO Western Pacific regional office, said: 'If these findings are true, then this is a significant breakthrough.

'First of all, it confirms the theory that the virus has crossed the species barrier. Secondly, it will help scientists work on an effective diagnostic test.'

The WHO had said previously that many emerging viruses were known to have come from animals.

The deadly incurable haemorrhagic fever Ebola is suspected to have come from monkeys and the Nipah virus may have originated from bats.

Mr Yuen explained that as the coronavirus could be found in faecal material, it was possible to transmit it to humans via the 'rearing, slaughtering or even cooking' processes.

However, he added that 'by eating fully cooked wild game animal, it is unlikely you can catch the infection'.

The civet ranked as the second most popular 'exotic' animal eaten by Hong Kong Chinese in a 1996 survey conducted by animal rights group Traffic East Asia. It ranked behind snake and ahead of the pangolin.

Civet cats are from the same family as the mongoose and have cat-like bodies, long tails and weasel-like faces. -- AFP