Emerging Infectious Diseases (Oct 2004)

Laboratory Diagnosis of Four Recent Sporadic Cases of Community-acquired SARS, Guangdong Province, China

  • Guodong Liang,
  • Qiuxia Chen,
  • Jianguo Xu,
  • Yufei Liu,
  • Wilina Lim,
  • J.S.M. Peiris,
  • Larry J. Anderson,
  • Li Ruan,
  • Hui Li,
  • Biao Kan,
  • Biao Di,
  • Peter Cheng,
  • K.H. Chan,
  • Dean D. Erdman,
  • Shuyan Gu,
  • Xinge Yan,
  • Weili Liang,
  • Duanhua Zhou,
  • Lia M. Haynes,
  • Shumin Duan,
  • Xin Zhang,
  • Han Zheng,
  • Yang Gao,
  • Suxiang Tong,
  • Guoliang Hu,
  • Ling Fang,
  • Pengzhe Qin,
  • Ying Deng

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1010.040445
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 10
pp. 1774 – 1781

Abstract

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Four cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that occurred between December 16, 2003, and January 8, 2004, in Guangzhou city, Guangdong Province, China, were investigated. Four cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that occurred from December 16, 2003, to January 8, 2004, in the city of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, were investigated. Clinical specimens collected from these patients were tested by provincial and national laboratories in China as well as members of the World Health Organization SARS Reference and Verification Laboratory Network in a collaborative effort to identify and confirm SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection. Although SARS-CoV was not isolated from any patient, specimens from three patients were positive for viral RNA by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction assay, and all patients had detectable rises in SARS-CoV–specific antibodies. This study shows the effectiveness of a collaborative, multilaboratory response to diagnose SARS.

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