China Suspect SARS Case Virus Resembles Civet Cat [Reuters]

[truthisfreedom]

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=4071069§ion=news

China Suspect SARS Case Virus Resembles Civet Cat
Mon 5 January, 2004 04:07

BEIJING (Reuters) - A virus gene sample from China's suspected SARS patient resembles that of a coronavirus found in wild civet cats sold in markets as a delicacy, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
The finding suggested the SARS coronavirus may have come from civets and the sale of the animals should be banned, a spokesman for the center for diseases control in booming southern Guangdong province said.
"We should begin the measures to prevent SARS beforehand and ban sales and eating of the animal in a bid to reduce the chance of contracting SARS virus," Xinhua quoted the spokesman as saying.
A 32-year-old television producer suspected of having SARS was admitted to hospital in Guangzhou in December but laboratory tests have been inconclusive.
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A Hong Kong newspaper said a waitress had become the second suspected SARS case in Guangdong, but provincial officials and hospitals denied the report.
The Hong Kong Standard said the waitress, in her early 20s, developed a fever a week ago and was being kept in isolation at the Guangzhou No 1 People's Hospital.