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SARS-coronavirus: permanently
under control?
In
the spring of 2003, a previously unknown virus suddenly gripped the world.
Partly due to the worldwide media coverage and the impressive television images,
the letters S A R S (for
"Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome") became a household name in a
matter of weeks.
Not
counting laboratory accidents, it would now seem that the SARS-coronavirus
(SARS-CoV) has been contained successfully. While over 8000 people were
officially diagnosed with SARS in the winter of 2002-2003, only 4 cases
were discovered the following winter, and none were reported during
subsequent winters. Still, also after the 2003 epidemic, a number of
SARS-CoVs that are closely related to those discovered in human samples
were isolated from certain exotic species of animals, in particular Chinese
horseshoe bats (Lau et al., 2005; Ren et al., 2006).
Has
SARS indeed been brought under control and will it remain that way? Was
SARS merely an interesting "dress rehearsal" for the medical
profession, health authorities and virologists, who for years have been
waiting for the outbreak of a new (pandemic) influenza virus, which, like
the SARS-virus for that matter, is expected to emerge in Southeast
Asia?
Research
into the new infectious disease has rapidly answered a number of questions
with regard to SARS and SARS-CoV. This research has led to the publication
of thousands of scientific articles concerning various aspects of the virus
and the disease that it causes, but has nonetheless left enough room for
the assumption that, sooner or later, SARS-CoV or a closely related virus
may re-emerge.
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