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A reconstruction of the events that occurred around the end
of 2002 makes it like that the SARS-virus transferred to a human host
somewhere in Southern China (Guan et al., 2003).
The most frequently mentioned (putative) source for the
virus was the masked palm civet, an animal that has many "culinary
uses" and is, therefore, bred on a fairly large scale. The relatively
high number of SARS cases among animal traders and cooks support this
hypothesis.
After this supposed zoonosis (the transfer of a pathogen from an animal to a human host),
the virus subsequently proved capable of efficiently spreading from human
to human, a step that is often the breaking point in the successful introduction
(or not) of a new virus in the human population (Li et al., 2006).
In
the case of SARS-CoV, spreading occurs primarily via the respiratory route.
The most important signs of SARS are fever and respiratory symptoms that
can rapidly take on life-threatening forms and ultimately proved fatal for
approximately 10 percent of the patients, elderly people in particular. The
virus has also been found in urine and faeces, in this last source it was
even found to remain stable for four days, but what the implications are
for the disease and its spread has not been established.
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