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Original Article
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Volume 348:1953-1966 May 15, 2003 Number 20
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A Novel Coronavirus Associated with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Thomas G. Ksiazek, D.V.M., Ph.D., Dean Erdman, Dr.P.H., Cynthia S. Goldsmith, M.S., Sherif R. Zaki, M.D., Ph.D., Teresa Peret, Ph.D., Shannon Emery, B.S., Suxiang Tong, Ph.D., Carlo Urbani, M.D., James A. Comer, Ph.D., M.P.H., Wilina Lim, M.D., Pierre E. Rollin, M.D., Scott F. Dowell, M.D., M.P.H., Ai-Ee Ling, M.D., Charles D. Humphrey, Ph.D., Wun-Ju Shieh, M.D., Ph.D., Jeannette Guarner, M.D., Christopher D. Paddock, M.D., M.P.H.T.M., Paul Rota, Ph.D., Barry Fields, Ph.D., Joseph DeRisi, Ph.D., Jyh-Yuan Yang, Ph.D., Nancy Cox, Ph.D., James M. Hughes, M.D., James W. LeDuc, Ph.D., William J. Bellini, Ph.D., Larry J. Anderson, M.D., and the SARS Working Group

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ABSTRACT

Background A worldwide outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been associated with exposures originating from a single ill health care worker from Guangdong Province, China. We conducted studies to identify the etiologic agent of this outbreak.

Methods We received clinical specimens from patients in seven countries and tested them, using virus-isolation techniques, electron-microscopical and histologic studies, and molecular and serologic assays, in an attempt to identify a wide range of potential pathogens.

Results None of the previously described respiratory pathogens were consistently identified. However, a novel coronavirus was isolated from patients who met the case definition of SARS. Cytopathological features were noted in Vero E6 cells inoculated with a throat-swab specimen. Electron-microscopical examination revealed ultrastructural features characteristic of coronaviruses. Immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence staining revealed reactivity with group I coronavirus polyclonal antibodies. Consensus coronavirus primers designed to amplify a fragment of the polymerase gene by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to obtain a sequence that clearly identified the isolate as a unique coronavirus only distantly related to previously sequenced coronaviruses. With specific diagnostic RT-PCR primers we identified several identical nucleotide sequences in 12 patients from several locations, a finding consistent with a point-source outbreak. Indirect fluorescence antibody tests and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays made with the new isolate have been used to demonstrate a virus-specific serologic response. This virus may never before have circulated in the U.S. population.

Conclusions A novel coronavirus is associated with this outbreak, and the evidence indicates that this virus has an etiologic role in SARS. Because of the death of Dr. Carlo Urbani, we propose that our first isolate be named the Urbani strain of SARS-associated coronavirus.


Source Information

From the Special Pathogens Branch (T.G.K., J.A.C., P.E.R.), Respiratory and Enteric Virus Branch (D.E., T.P., S.E., S.T., P.R., W.J.B., L.J.A.), Infectious Disease Pathology Activity (C.S.G., S.R.Z., C.D.H., W.-J.S., J.G., C.D.P.), Influenza Branch (N.C.), Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases (B.F.), and Office of the Director, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases (J.W.L.), and Office of the Director, National Center for Infectious Diseases (J.M.H.), National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; the World Health Organization, Hanoi, Vietnam (C.U.); the Government Virus Unit, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China (W.L.); the International Emerging Infectious Diseases Program, Bangkok, Thailand (S.F.D.); the Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital (A.-E.L.); the University of California, San Francisco (J.D.); and the Center for Disease Control, Department of Health, Taipei, Taiwan (J.-Y. Y.).

This article was published at www.nejm.org on April 10, 2003.

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Related Letters:

A Novel Coronavirus and SARS
Leng Q., Bentwich Z.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2003; 349:709, Aug 14, 2003. Correspondence

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