Study: Bats, not civets, source of SARS

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists studying the genome of the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome have discovered the virus might have originated in bats.

Ohio State University Assistant Professor Daniel Janies, lead author of the study, said the research comparing related viruses counters assertions that SARS was eradicated in 2004 when thousands of palm civet cats in China were identified as the source and killed.

The new analysis suggests humans were the source of the virus found in the civets.

SARS infected more than 8,000 people worldwide during a nine-month outbreak that ended in 2003. No human infections have been reported since early 2004.

Janies and his colleagues aren't the first to suggest bats were the source of SARS. Two research teams identified several species of Chinese bats as the natural viral reservoir in 2005 using a couple of genes from a few viruses.

Janies said his team has confirmed those findings with the largest and most comprehensive analysis of coronavirus origins, using whole genomes from hundreds of viruses.

He said the genomic data rules out civets as the cause of SARS.

The research is detailed in the online early edition of the journal Cladistics.