Where Did SARS Come From — and Where Is It Now?
Foshan, China, is in Guangdong province. As elsewhere in southern China, Guangdong markets feature exotic “game food.” These live, exotic animals of nearly every imaginable kind are caged very close to one another. They’re butchered and eaten as culinary delicacies. Some of the earliest SARS cases seem to have been in people whose jobs involved dealing with these animals. Blood from people who handle these animals are more likely to have antibodies against the SARS virus than other people working in the same markets. And health authorities have isolated SARS virus from at least two kinds of these animals — the Himalayan palm civet and the raccoon dog. This doesn’t necessarily mean the animals are the source of SARS. It’s possible that the animals caught the virus from humans, and not the other way around. Pets owned by SARS patients in Hong Kong — cats and dogs — have been infected with the virus. Stohr says it’s clear that no humans now have SARS disease. This means there are only
