A kinder, gentler SARS virus?

Sounds that way:

A new strain of the Sars virus that has emerged in southern China appears to be less contagious than the strain that killed nearly 800 people worldwide last year, a Hong Kong scientist said yesterday.

The present strain does not appear to be as well adapted to infecting humans as the one last year, said Dr Guan Yi, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong and a leading expert on the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) virus.

‘The virus this year is a new virus strain. It behaves like a virus in an animal and is not well adapted to humans, so its transmission ability among humans is low,’ said Dr Guan. ‘That is why contacts of these victims in China have not been infected.’

The Discussion: One Comment

SARS is last year; this year it’s bird flu. Gotta keep up with the fashions.

January 15, 2004 @ 1:30 pm | Comment

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