Title
Bats are natural reservoirs of SARS-like coronaviruses
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Publication Date
October 2005
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) emerged in 2002 to 2003 in southern China. The origin of its etiological agent, the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), remains elusive. Here we report that species of bats are a natural host of coronaviruses closely related to those responsible for the SARS outbreak. These viruses, termed SARS-like coronaviruses (SL-CoVs), display greater genetic variation than SARS-CoV isolated from humans or from civets. The human and civet isolates of SARS-CoV nestle phylogenetically within the spectrum of SL-CoVs, indicating that the virus responsible for the SARS outbreak was a member of this coronavirus group.
Keywords
Bats, Coronaviruses, SARS (Disease), Asia, China
Type
Article
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Identifier
K26-05404
Recommended Citation
Li, Wendong; Shi, Zhengli; Yu, Meng; Ren, Wuze; Smith, Craig; Epstein, Jonathan H.; Wang, Hanzhong; Crameri, Gary; Hu, Zhihong; Zhang, Huajun; Zhang, Jianhong; McEachern, Jennifer; Field, Hume; Daszak, Peter; Eaton, Bryan T.; Zhang, Shuyi; and Wang, Lin-Fa, "Bats are natural reservoirs of SARS-like coronaviruses" (2005). KIP Articles. 394.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/394