SARS Virus Upped the Ante ..... by Mutating

"This rapid evolution is like that of a murderer who is trying to change his fingerprints or even his appearance to try to escape detection." Dr. Dennis Lo, a chemical pathologist at the university.

Analysis of genetic sequences of SARS virus samples found there are two forms of the virus now present in Hongkong. This discovery was made by scientists at Hongkong's Chinese University when analysing 11 samples of the virus.

One strain was linked to an outbreak caused by a mainland Chinese man who spread SARS to others at a Hong Kong hotel. The other strain came from a Hong Kong man believed to have caught it in the mainland border city of Shenzhen.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) thinks the mutations will not have any effect on the disease itself. WHO scientists also say the coronavirus family, of which SARS virus belongs, is prone to mutations anyway.

Patients should avoid personal contact such as hugging and kissing when they go home, as scientists are concerned the virus may live in an infected person's body for at least a month after recovery.

A greater worry for scientists now is that there are evidence that 12 people SARS patients may have relapsed. This complicates matters for doctors to tell whether a patient has fully recovered.

"So it's not a new phenomenon that viruses remain, but certainly a relapse is concerning," said Dr. David Heymann, WHO's chief of communicable diseases.

SARS has killed close to 200 people in China and infected nearly 4,000 since it emerged in the southern province of Guangdong late last year. Globally, it has infected more than 6,300 people in 30 countries, killing more than 400.

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