[Newsdesk] Research brief

The 2002 –03 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is thought to have originated in horseshoe bats. However, because no strain in bats has been found that matches the one that infected people, uncertainty has existed about the exact origin of the outbreak. Now, genetic analysis of 11 newly d iscovered strains of SARS-related virus from bats in a cave in China shows all the essential building blocks needed to build the human SARS coronavirus, suggesting that recombination between precursor strains could have given rise to the 2002–03 strain of human SARS.
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Newsdesk Source Type: research