Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is the etiological agent of a respiratory disease that has a 10% mortality rate. We previously showed that SARS-CoV lacking the E gene (SARS-CoV-ΔE) is attenuated in several animal model systems. Here, we show that absence of the E protein resulted in reduced expression of proinflammatory cytokines, decreased numbers of neutrophils in lun...

Staphylococcus aureus is a gram-positive pathogen that is capable of expressing a variety of virulence proteins in response to environmental signals. Virulence protein expression in S. aureus is controlled by a network of regulatory loci including sarA and agr. The sarA/agr network is associated with the expression of cell wall-associated adhesins during exponential growth and the expression of...

The viral proteases have proven to be the most selective and useful for removing the fusion tags in fusion protein expression systems. As a key enzyme in the viral life-cycle, the main protease (M(pro)) is most attractive for drug design targeting the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the etiological agent responsible for the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003. In this stud...

(SARS-CoV) (1). The first case of SARS, diagnosed as communicable atypical pneumonia, occurred in Guangdong Province, China, in November 2002. Thousands of patients with SARS have been reported in over 30 countries and districts since February 2003. SARS is clinically characterized by fever, dry cough, myalgia, dyspnea, lymphopenia, and abnormal chest radiograph results (1–3). According to the ...

Cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) were investigated for SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) through RNA tests, serologic response, and viral culture. Of 537 specimens from patients in whom SARS was clinically diagnosed, 332 (60%) had SARS-CoV RNA in one or more clinical specimens, compared with 1 (0.3%) of 332 samples from controls. Of 417 patients with clinical SARS from whom paired se...

This paper compares the impacts of SARS and human deaths arising from Avian Flu on international tourist arrivals to Asia. The effects of SARS and human deaths from Avian Flu will be compared directly according to human deaths. The nature of the short run and long run relationship is examined empirically by estimating a static line fixed effect model and a difference transformation dynamic mode...

The healthcare setting was important in the early spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in both Toronto and Taiwan. Healthcare workers, patients, and visitors were at increased risk for infection. Nonetheless, the ability of individual SARS patients to transmit disease was quite variable. Unrecognized SARS case-patients were a primary source of transmission, and early detection and...

To determine factors that predispose or protect healthcare workers from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), we conducted a retrospective cohort study among 43 nurses who worked in two Toronto critical care units with SARS patients. Eight of 32 nurses who entered a SARS patient's room were infected. The probability of SARS infection was 6% per shift worked. Assisting during intubation, suc...

The SARS coronavirus was identified as the pathogen of a global outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003. Its large RNA genome encodes four structural proteins, sixteen non-structural proteins and eight accessory proteins. The availability of structures of SARS coronavirus macromolecules has enabled the elucidation of their important functions, such as mediating the fusion o...

The emergence and rapid global spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus in 2002-2003 prompted efforts by modelers to characterize SARS epidemiology and inform control policies. We overview and discuss models for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), provide a critical survey of SARS modeling literature, and discuss promising future directions for research. We reconcile ...