Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a serious and fatal infectious disease caused by SARS coronavirus (SARS-Cov), a novel human coronavirus. SARS-Cov infection stimulates cytokines (e.g., IL-10, IFN-gamma, IL-1, etc.) expression dramatically, and T lymphocytes and their subsets CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells are decreased after onset of the disease. SARS-specific IgG antibody is generated in...

A previously unknown coronavirus (CoV) is the aetiological agent causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), for which an effective antiviral treatment is urgently needed. To enable the rapid and biosafe identification of coronavirus replicase inhibitors, we have generated a non-cytopathic, selectable replicon RNA (based on human CoV 229E) that can be stably maintained in eukaryotic cells...

One of the hallmark findings in patients suffering from SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is lymphopenia, which is the result of massive lymphocyte death. SARS-CoV (SARS coronavirus), a novel coronavirus that has been etiologically associated with SARS cases, is homologous with MHV (murine hepatitis coronavirus), and MHV small envelope E protein is capable of inducing apoptosis. We hypot...

In March 2003, a novel coronavirus was isolated from patients exhibiting atypical pneumonia, and was subsequently proven to be the causative agent of the disease now referred to as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). The complete genome of the SARS-CoV (SARS coronavirus) has since been sequenced. The SARS-CoV nucleocapsid (SARS-CoV N) protein shares little homology with other members of t...

BACKGROUND The worldwide outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is associated with a newly discovered coronavirus, SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). We did clinical and experimental studies to assess the role of this virus in the cause of SARS. METHODS We tested clinical and postmortem samples from 436 SARS patients in six countries for infection with SARS-CoV, human metap...

Receptor recognition is a major determinant of the host range, cross-species infections, and pathogenesis of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). A defined receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the SARS-CoV spike protein specifically recognizes its host receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). This article reviews the latest knowledge about how RBDs from different S...

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 tha...

Using immunofluorescence and neutralization assays, we detected antibodies to human severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and/or animal SARS-CoV-like virus in 17 (1.8%) of 938 adults recruited in 2001. This finding suggests that a small proportion of healthy persons in Hong Kong had been exposed to SARS-related viruses at least 2 years before the recent SARS outbreak.

Despite extensive laboratory investigations in patients with respiratory tract infections, no microbiological cause can be identified in a significant proportion of patients. In the past 3 years, several novel respiratory viruses, including human metapneumovirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SARS-CoV), and human coronavirus NL63, were discovered. Here we report the disc...

In November 2002, a flu-like outbreak caused by a coronavirus now known as SARS-CoV occurred in Guangdong Province in China. In the space of 9 months the disease traveled to 29 countries, infected 8098 people and caused 774 deaths [1]. The SARS epidemic spread with alarming speed among health care workers attending SARS patients (e.g., 112 health care workers at Prince of Wales hospital in Hong...