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SARS virus traced to bat species in Yunnan

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A species of Chinese bat has been confirmed as the source of the deadly SARS virus that broke out in 2002.

A horseshoe bat. [File photo]

An international study group, led by Chinese researcher Shi Zhengli, have isolated a SARS-like coronavirus from the rufous horseshoe bat, a species widespread in China and southeast Asia, the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed yesterday.

Shi is a researcher with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The latest study results in the October 30 online issue of the journal Nature confirm a 2005 research that says bat species are natural hosts of coronaviruses closely related to SARS.

Diverse SARS-like coronaviruses (CoVs) have now been reported from other bats in China, Europe and Africa, but none is considered a direct progenitor of SARS-CoV. The two novel coronaviruses isolated from horseshoe bats in southwest China’s Yunnan Province are far more closely related to SARS-CoV than any previously identified, and can infect cells of humans, pigs and monkeys, the researchers said.

SARS killed about 800 people during 2002 and 2003. Palm civets were previously believed to be the direct source of the virus.