Origins of SARS remains a puzzle

ATLANTA -- The newly revealed genetic code of the suspected SARS virus still doesn't explain how it arose or how to stop the spread of the deadly flu-like illness, federal officials said Monday.

Canadian researchers over the weekend first published the entire genetic sequence of the new type of coronavirus believed to be the cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials released their own sequencing of the virus' gene code Monday.

Heath officials celebrated the breakthrough but cautioned that a lot more work needs to be done.

"Sequencing the virus is a major scientific achievement unprecedented in the history of science," CDC Director Julie Gerberding said. "But it is not the magic bullet for dealing with SARS."

The sequencing did not provide any simple answers to questions about the disease, which has made 3,169 people ill and killed 144 in the world. Scientists particularly want to know whether it came from animals, such as chickens or pigs.

In Beijing, meanwhile, China's leaders expressed grave concerns over the deadly SARS outbreak for the first time Monday, following weeks of assurances that the flu-like disease was under control.

In China and Hong Kong, another 11 deaths were reported in the global outbreak that has killed more than 140 people.

Chinese President Hu Jintao was shown visiting hospitals in the southern province of Guangdong, the hard-hit region where SARS is believed to have originated.

"Since the discovery of the SARS cases, I feel very worried. I feel anxious for the masses," Hu was shown telling medical workers on state television.

There are 193 suspected U.S. cases but no deaths.

"We have to remain vigilant because it is only one highly transmissible patient that can infect a very large number of people," she said.

The gene sequencing will help create accurate diagnostic tests and increases the chance that a drug or vaccine will be found to defeat the virus, but it's something that could take weeks or even months in some cases, she said.

Denison said initial examination of the virus sequence appeared to reveal that the new coronavirus has similarities to the three known varieties of the virus, which are responsible for about a third of all colds.

Those similarities -- the way the virus copies itself, creates its own proteins or cells -- could be exploited, Denison said.

Gerberding said that health officials must also do some old- fashioned disease detective work. They must interview the first SARS cases, likely in China's Guangdong province, asking them where they were or what they did before they became ill.

Contributing: Christopher Bodeen.

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