📄 Bats are natural reservoirs of SARS-like coronaviruses

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-Co. Vs), 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-Co. Vs, indicating that the virus responsible for the SARS outbreak was a member of this coronavirus group.

keywords 🔗 closely related (222) 🔗 etiological agent (62) 🔗 respiratory syndrome (2004) 🔗 acute respiratory (1734)

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