CUHK Successfully Traces the Fingerprints of the SARS Virus
¡@¡@This team has analysed the genetic fingerprint of the SARS-coronavirus from eleven patients. This number is one of the largest performed by a single research centre. This work has revealed the genetic fingerprint of the SARS-coronavirus associated with the major outbreak at the Prince of Wales Hospital. Through this investigation, the team has obtained scientific evidence which demonstrates that the virus is mutating at a rapid rate. A change in the genetic signature of the virus is demonstrable even between the passage of the virus from one wave of infection to the next. ¡@¡@The study also revealed the presence of SARS-coronavirus that is unrelated to the different genetic signatures of derived from the one involved in the Prince of Wales Hospital outbreak. This indicates that more than one SARS-coronavirus types are present in Hong Kong. ¡@¡@By comparing these new data with virus sequences reported from other parts of the world, a model for the evolution of the virus has been postulated. Such a model also predicts the existence of an ancestral type of the SARS-coronavirus, with a distinct genetic signature. The search of this ancestor would shed more light on the origin of SARS. |