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Escaping Pandora’s Box — Another Novel Coronavirus With luck, public health control measures may be able to put the Covid-19 demons back in the jar. If they do not, we face a daunting challenge equ...

Practical Measures to Help Prevent Covid-19 In this audio interview conducted on March 25, 2020, the editors discuss transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and how to prevent it, particularly in at-risk health...

Aspects of Covid-19 Immunity In this audio interview conducted on August 17, 2021, the editors look at new studies shedding light on diverse aspects of immunity: breakthrough infections, antiserum ...

This report describes a graduate student in microbiology in Singapore in whom fever and respiratory symptoms led to the diagnosis of infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus in September 2003. The student had worked with a vial of West Nile virus, but an epidemiologic investigation found SARS virus contaminating the vial.

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 six 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 No classic respiratory or bacterial respiratory pathogen was consistently identified. However, a novel coronavirus was isolated from patients who met the case definition of SARS. Cytopathological features were noted microscopically in Vero E6 cells inoculated with a throat-swab specimen. Electron-microscopical examination of cultures 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 fluorescent antibody tests and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays made with the new coronavirus isolate have been used to demonstrate a virus-specific serologic response. Preliminary studies suggest that this virus may never before have infected 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. The name Urbani SARS-associated coronavirus is proposed for the virus.

The discovery that a novel coronavirus is the probable cause of the newly recognized severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), reported by Ksiazek et al. (pages 1953–1966), Drosten et al. (pages 1967–1976), and Peiris et al.1 provides a dramatic example of an emerging coronavirus disease in humans, described by Poutanen et al. (pages 1995–2005), Tsang et al. (pages 1977–1985), and Lee et al. (pages 1986–1994). Although human coronaviruses cause up to 30 percent of colds, they rarely cause lower respiratory tract disease. In contrast, coronaviruses cause devastating epizootics of respiratory or enteric disease in livestock and poultry. Most coronaviruses cause disease . . .

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is responsible for the first pandemic of the 21st century. Within months after its emergence in Guangdong Province in mainland China, it had affected more than 8000 patients and caused 774 deaths in 26 countries on five continents. It illustrated dramatically the potential of air travel and globalization for the dissemination of an emerging infectious disease and highlighted the need for a coordinated global response to contain such disease threats. We review the cause, epidemiology, and clinical features of the disease.

To the Editor: In view of recent concern about the recurrence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Guangdong, China, we would like to highlight the tremendous importance of sensitivity in...

To the Editor: Previous studies have demonstrated that IgG and neutralizing antibodies against coronavirus associated with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) may persist, in spite of a de...

To the Editor: Using the viral sequences derived from clinical specimens collected in Hong Kong between February and April 2003 from 139 patients with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS),1...

To the Editor: A novel coronavirus called the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)–associated coronavirus (CoV) has been identified as the causal agent of SARS.1–3 To understand the humoral immunity to this virus, we studied the profile of IgM and IgG antibody responses to SARS-CoV. IgM and IgG antibodies were analyzed by an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 20 patients with SARS from week 1 of their illness to week 12 and in 103 healthy contacts. All 20 patients tested negative for IgM and IgG at week 1 after the onset of symptoms. Of these patients, 16 tested positive for . . .

To the Editor: Our teaching hospital was the site of a major outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).1 We sequenced viral isolates cultured from clinical specimens from seven patients with SARS in this outbreak. The viral isolates were from passage 1 of the SARS coronavirus cultured in Vero cells.2 We obtained the complete genomic sequence of the virus cultured from the mother of the index patient in this hospital outbreak (isolate Su-10, GenBank accession number AY282752).1 The mother's symptoms had begun on March 5, 2003; she died on April 13, 2003. We also sequenced the spike glycoprotein gene . . .

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was diagnosed in more than 1800 patients in 17 countries (including the United States and Canada) between February 1 and March 31, 2003. During this two-month period, the World Health Organization (WHO) coordinated an international investigation that has produced unprecedented scientific and epidemiologic discoveries with unprecedented speed. On March 12, the WHO issued a global alert about SARS. On March 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) activated its emergency operations center to support the response of the WHO to this global threat. Within 24 hours of the official invitations, CDC investigators joined . . .