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Speculation on SARS Origins

Posted by michael on from the wmd dept.

JediJeremy writes "Nature has this article on the possibility that the SARS virus is a cross between mammal and bird viruses. The article does go on to say that this is totally speculation and that a mammal virus could have mutated. But it raises some interesting points, such as a possible new bio-terror weapon."

4 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. SARS not a danger much longer... by 7-Vodka · · Score: 4, Interesting
    "But it raises some interesting points, such as a possible new bio-terror weapon."

    No, actually the article does not touch on this.
    But don't worry, in the lab where I work we already have a treatment against sars in production and nearing the clinical trial stage.
    Sars won't be an effective bio-terrorism weapon for much longer. All you hypochondriacs can breathe a sigh of relief.

    --

    Liberty.

    1. Re:SARS not a danger much longer... by CatGrep · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ut don't worry, in the lab where I work we already have a treatment against sars in production and nearing the clinical trial stage.

      And where might that be?

  2. Re:Come on! its the chinese! by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Actually, I read that post not as flamebait, but as a humourously sarcastic detailing of what you'd likely hear when speaking on the subject to an alarmingly high percentage of the population.

    There are, however, certain justifications for claiming that asian and african countries in general tend to have attitudes that lead to the easier spread of disease.

  3. artificial origin by ghettoreb · · Score: 1, Interesting

    it's seems pretty probable to me that this might be of artificial origin, accidentally or intentionally

    with the massive amounts of research we have going on right now with the virii (using them to fight cancer; finding cure for AIDS; studying influenza; sequencing virii's DNA) it's possible that we might have artificially produced SARS or have abused a population of some virus to the point that the population experienced a high mutation rate (e.g. if we tagged them with radiation-produced molecules, which is common practice for studying their spread in an animal)