VIOLIN: Vaccine Investigation and Online Information Network

Pathogen Page

SARS-CoV

I. General Information

1. NCBI Taxonomy ID:

2. Disease:

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

3. Introduction

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS; pronounced /ˈsɑrz/ sarz) is a respiratory disease in humans which is caused by the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV). There has been one near pandemic to date, between the months of November 2002 and July 2003, with 8,096 known infected cases and 774 confirmed human deaths (a case-fatality rate of 9.6%) worldwide being listed in the World Health Organization's (WHO) 21 April 2004 concluding report. Within a matter of weeks in early 2003, SARS spread from the Guangdong province of China to rapidly infect individuals in some 37 countries around the world (Wiki: SARS).

4. Microbial Pathogenesis

Infection by different coronaviruses cause in the host alteration in the transcription and translation patterns, in the cell cycle, the cytoskeleton, apoptosis and coagulation pathways, inflammation and immune and stress responses. The balance between genes up- and down-regulated could explain the pathogenesis caused by these viruses (Wiki: SARS).

5. Host Ranges and Animal Models

SARS-CoV has been isolated from humans, civet cats, raccoon dogs, swine and bats, suggesting that several animal species may function as natural reservoirs for future outbreaks. The Chinese horseshoe bat, which is abundant across Southeast Asia, is probably the natural reservoir for SARS-CoV. Ciliated airway epithelium models derived from tracheobronchial airway epithelium of Balb-c mice (MAE), Golden Syrian hamsters (HmAE), and rhesus macaques (RhMAE) have been successfully developed (Sims et al., 2008).

6. Host Protective Immunity

Passive immunization has been successful in establishing protection from SARS-CoV suggesting an important role for neutralizing antibodies (Wiki: SARS).

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