Dunno how it'll pan out eventually (cell activity).
SARS - WORLDWIDE (75): DIAGNOSTIC TESTING ************************************ A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases Date: Sun 27 Apr 2003 From: Julian Wei-Tze Tang Recovered SARS Patient Continues to Shed Virus in Stool --------------------------------------------------- An issue that has not been discussed anywhere in ProMED-mail in detail (perhaps because little is known about it) is that of continual viral shedding by clinically recovered SARS patients. A colleague of mine in Singapore, who has had the SARS illness and was diagnosed with the SARS coronavirus by RT-PCR culture and electron microscopy, has informed me that SARS coronavirus RNA has continued to be detected in stool samples by RT-PCR, although it has not yet been successfully grown in culture. This continued for sometime after the quarantine period of 10-14 [days?] after recovery from illness (up to 3 weeks post-recovery). If such is the case for most -- or even some -- of the recovered SARS patients, perhaps this may account for the ongoing transmission we are seeing in places like Singapore in household and workplace contacts of clinically recovered SARS patients. Perhaps the laboratories of the WHO collaborating network should ask for convalescent stool samples as well as sera to monitor and characterise this phenomenon. -- Dr. Julian W. Tang MA PhD MRCP Clinical Academic Training Fellow/ Lecturer in Virology Department of Virology Windeyer Building University College London Hospitals London W1T 4JF, UK [The current RT-PCR tests utilize primers that amplify short sequences of the polymerase gene of the putative SARS coronavirus. These tests may do no more than detect the presence of defective virus in gut contents. The replication of many RNA viruses is accompanied by the progressive accumulation of defective interfering particles (the equivalent of deletion mutants), which are thought to be a determining factor in the self-limiting characteristics of some acute virus infections. The failure to isolate infectious virus from the patient after recovery suggests that transmission of SARS via gut contents post-recovery does not represent substantial risk. Nonetheless, it is not possible to discount this route of transmission of SARS virus without knowledge of the relative sensitivity of the cell culture employed, and Dr. Julian Tang has drawn attention to an important question. - Mod.CP] [see also: SARS - worldwide (74): etiology 20030427.1039 SARS - worldwide (73): cases 20030427.1038 SARS - worldwide (72): treatment 20030427.1037 SARS - worldwide (71): cases 20030426.1026 SARS - worldwide (70): cases 20030425.1013 SARS - worldwide (69): diagnostic testing 20030425.1015 SARS - worldwide (68): etiology 20030425.1010 SARS - worldwide (67): cases 20030424.1007 SARS - worldwide (66): cases 20030424.1006 SARS - worldwide (65): cases 20030423.0994 SARS - worldwide (62): cases 20030422.0984 SARS - worldwide (58): diagnostic testing 20030419.0958 SARS - worldwide (53): etiology 20030417.0935 SARS - worldwide (51): etiology 20030416.0925 SARS - worldwide (46): diagnostic test 20030413.0901 SARS - worldwide (42): WHO historical overview 20030411.0878 SARS - worldwide (41):overview 20030411.0876 SARS - worldwide (38): etiology 20030410.0869 SARS - Worldwide (34): etiology 20030408.0857 SARS - worldwide (13): etiology 20030327.0758 SARS - worldwide (04): etiology 20030322.0713 Severe acute respiratory syndrome - Worldwide: alert (03) 20030316.0660 Severe acute respiratory syndrome - Worldwide (02):alert 20030315.0649 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - Worldwide 20030315.0637] .........................cp/pg/lm *##########################################################* ProMED-mail makes every effort to verify the reports that are posted, but the accuracy and completeness of the information, and of any statements or opinions based thereon, are not guaranteed. The reader assumes all risks in using information posted or archived by ProMED-mail. ISID and its associated service providers shall not be held responsible for errors or omissions or held liable for any damages incurred as a result of use or reliance upon posted or archived material. ************************************************************ Visit ProMED-mail's web site at . Send all items for posting to: promed@promedmail.org (NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not give your full name and affiliation, it may not be posted. Send commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get archives, help, etc. to: majordomo@promedmail.org. For assistance from a human being send mail to: owner-majordomo@promedmail.org.