SARS-CoV Infection in a Restaurant from Palm Civet

• Main Authors: Ming Wang, Meiying Yan, Huifang Xu, Weili Liang, Biao Kan, Bojian Zheng, Honglin Chen, Han Zheng, Yanmei Xu, Enmin Zhang, Hongxia Wang, Jingrong Ye, Guichang Li, Machao Li, Zhigang Cui, Yu-Fei Liu, Rong-Tong Guo, Xiao-Ning Liu, Liu-Hua Zhan, Duan-Hua Zhou, Ailan Zhao, Rong Hai, Dongzhen Yu, Yi Guan, Jianguo Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2005-12-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Severe acute respiratory syndrome; coronavirus; palm civet; research; China
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/11/12/04-1293_article
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059

Epidemiologic investigations showed that 2 of 4 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) identified in the winter of 2003–2004 were a waitress at a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, that served palm civets as food and a customer who ate in the restaurant a short distance from animal cages. All 6 palm civets at the restaurant were positive for SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Partial spike (S) gene sequences of SARS-CoV from the 2 patients were identical to 4 of 5 S gene viral sequences from palm civets. Phylogenetic analysis showed that SARS-CoV from palm civets in the restaurant was most closely related to animal isolates. SARS cases at the restaurant were the result of recent interspecies transfer from the putative palm civet reservoir, and not the result of continued circulation of SARS-CoV in the human population.