Cat Virus Tied to SARS (Hong Kong Travel Advisory Lifted)

NYTIMES ^ | May 23, 2003 | KEITH BRADSHER and THOMAS CRAMPTON

[dc-zoo]

Now that's stooping to a new low.

[TaxRelief]

Looks like a cross between a leopard and a racoon:

[azhenfud]

I wonder, could the Chinese method of displaying live animals just outside the restaurant entrances have any connection to the spread of disease?

[azhenfud]

"I suppose if a civet objected to being slaughtered and bit someone, it could transmit the virus."

Some restaurant patrons "pick" a live animal for slaughter/preparation. An infected live animal AT A RESTAURANT, exposed to the public, is asking for disaster.

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[Betty Jo]

You just know I'm not going to blame these poor little critters for SARS.

My money is still on Binny.

Although,they both have those big brown eyes........

[aristeides]

Interesting paragraphs from today's Washington Post story on this subject, Tests Indicate Animal Link for SARS : Mammals From China Market May Be Source of Human Infection :

The tests found a virus that appeared virtually identical to the SARS virus in saliva and feces of six catlike animals, known as masked palm civets. The researchers directly isolated virus from four of the animals and found pieces of genetic material from the microbe in two others. Tests also showed genetic evidence of the virus in feces of another animal, known as a raccoon dog, and an eighth animal, a Chinese ferret badger, had antibodies to the virus in its blood. None of the animals was sick.

A detailed genetic analysis of the virus isolated from the animals found it was identical to the SARS virus from human patients except that it lacked one sequence. The missing genetic material carries instructions for the production of a small protein, known as a peptide, and may have been the change that allowed the virus to jump to humans and then spread readily, Stohr said.

"The lack of this peptide may have helped the virus transmit efficiently from human to human," Stohr said. "Perhaps that missing piece of protein is just the trick, the little difference between a harmless animal virus and a human pathogen. That's a bit of speculation, but this is one hypothesis."

Masked palm civet belongs to Viverridae. Ferret badger belongs to Mustelidae. What kind of animal is a raccoon dog?

Let it be noted that domestic cats in this market tested did not show signs of infection with the virus in question.

[CobaltBlue]

Raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) are canids - but omnivorous - they eat fruit as well as meat.
http://www.canids.org/SPPACCTS/raccoond.htm

Civets are also omnivorous, as are ferret badgers. They are all reported to eat fruit.

Domestic cats - which apparently are not susceptible to SARS except transiently - are carnivores. They don't eat fruit.

Humans, which are susceptible to SARS, are also omnivores.

Interesting coincidence?

[CobaltBlue]

Carnivores have a shorter intestinal tract than omnivores, typically, because it takes longer to break fruit and grain down into particles that the body can use. This is one reason that cats can eat rotten meat without getting sick - it passes through too quickly to cause infection.

[CobaltBlue]

Herbivores and omnivores get Vitamin C from their diet. Carnivores make their own.

Herbivores and omnivores sweat, carnivores pant.

Herbivores and omnivores have alkaline saliva, carnivores have acid saliva, and their stomach acid is 20 times stronger than that of herbivores and omnivores.

Many more differences, these are just the most obvious.

[aristeides]

Interesting observation. Pigs, of course, are omnivores.

[Betty Jo]

Hmmm....peptides......Dr.Don Wiley.....

One of the dead microbiologists.

http://www.hhmi.org/communic/bulletin/oct95/wiley.htm

"By providing a precise picture of MHC-peptide binding,he has made the rational design of specific molecules for antiviral vaccines a reality."

[aristeides]

I wonder if there's a way to find out whether any students of Dr. Wiley's are now working in China.

[CobaltBlue]

Peptides are the building blocks of proteins. Two amino or more amino acids linked together are peptides, and proteins are made of one or more polypeptides chains.

All living beings are composed largely of peptides, including immune cells, and viruses.

[Betty Jo]

http://www.avibio.com/pr/pr169.html

http://www.lifesciencesinfo.com/tides

Peptides Oligonucleotides

"Oligonucleotide-and-Peptide-Based Therapeutics"

Don Wiley dead

Antisense

Hybridon ISIS IBIS

Mahfouz-Bin Laden-Camille Chebeir

DARPA

Sleeper cells

Old origional SEC documents

Pretend you are Columbo or Marc Furhman

[Betty Jo]

You ask if any of Don Wileys students are working in China?

Maybe the question should be "Are the ideas of Don Wiley in the hands and heads of Bin Ladens mad scientists?"