The Effect of Sars on the Human Population
The effect of SARS on the human population
February 2003, Asia reported an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, commonly known as SARS. SARS is a viral respiratory illness caused by the virus SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Within a few months the virus spread to over two dozen countries, causing SARS to be considered a global infection. The virus spread to North America, Europe, South America and Asia before it was contained in 2003. A total of 8,098 people were infected by SARS worldwide during the 2003 outbreak. The viral infection claimed 774 lives. [1]
Morphology of SARS:
SARS is part of the Coronavirus family. Coronavirus is a family of 15 species of viruses with similar characteristics. Coronavirus particles are irregular in shape and are 60-220nm in diameter. The SARS species is 100nm is diameter. The coronavirus particles have an outer envelope with distinctive ‘club shaped’ peplomers. The envelope give the virus a ‘crown’ appearance from which the name was derived from as Latin for crown is corona. The envelope contains three proteins and in shown there is a fourth present:
· Spike protein: receptor binding, cell fusion, major antigen
· Envelope protein: small, envelope-associated protein
· Membrane protein: transmembrane - budding & envelope formation
· Haemagglutinin-esterase (Only present in some coronaviruses)
Cornaviruses contains the longest single stranded, non-segmented strand of RNA in all RNA viruses. The genome has a 5 ' methylated cap and 3 ' poly-A tail and functions directly as mRNA. SARS is a novel coronavirus with some unusual properties. One of the characteristics of SARS is its ability to grow in Vero cells. “In these cells, virus infection results in a cytopathic effect and budding of coronavirus-like particles from the endoplasmic reticulum within infected cells.” SARS has 29,700 nucleotides sequences that’s has been found by serological (antigenic) investigations. The sequence appears to be typical for
February 2003, Asia reported an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, commonly known as SARS. SARS is a viral respiratory illness caused by the virus SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Within a few months the virus spread to over two dozen countries, causing SARS to be considered a global infection. The virus spread to North America, Europe, South America and Asia before it was contained in 2003. A total of 8,098 people were infected by SARS worldwide during the 2003 outbreak. The viral infection claimed 774 lives. [1]
Morphology of SARS:
SARS is part of the Coronavirus family. Coronavirus is a family of 15 species of viruses with similar characteristics. Coronavirus particles are irregular in shape and are 60-220nm in diameter. The SARS species is 100nm is diameter. The coronavirus particles have an outer envelope with distinctive ‘club shaped’ peplomers. The envelope give the virus a ‘crown’ appearance from which the name was derived from as Latin for crown is corona. The envelope contains three proteins and in shown there is a fourth present:
· Spike protein: receptor binding, cell fusion, major antigen
· Envelope protein: small, envelope-associated protein
· Membrane protein: transmembrane - budding & envelope formation
· Haemagglutinin-esterase (Only present in some coronaviruses)
Cornaviruses contains the longest single stranded, non-segmented strand of RNA in all RNA viruses. The genome has a 5 ' methylated cap and 3 ' poly-A tail and functions directly as mRNA. SARS is a novel coronavirus with some unusual properties. One of the characteristics of SARS is its ability to grow in Vero cells. “In these cells, virus infection results in a cytopathic effect and budding of coronavirus-like particles from the endoplasmic reticulum within infected cells.” SARS has 29,700 nucleotides sequences that’s has been found by serological (antigenic) investigations. The sequence appears to be typical for
References: [1] http://www.cdc.gov/sars/about/fs-SARS.html [2] http://www.microbiologybytes.com/virology/Coronaviruses.html [3] http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/bio/hale/bioT_EID/lectures/SARSvirus.html [4] http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/060101_batsars [5] http://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/table2004_04_21/en/ [6] http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/15/1/5.html