SARS

Published 10 Jan 2017

An overview of the topic and its significance.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)is a viral infection characterized by often high fever, malaise, and a dry cough with dyspnea that can lead to hypoxemia and death. It is caused by a new form of the coronavirus never before seen in humans. Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that have distinctive crown-like spikes. The mainly spread by close person-to-person contact. After two to seven days, SARS patients may develop a dry cough with most developing pneumonia.

The risks factor of having SARS are close contact within the previous 10 days with a probable case of SARS, recent travel within the previous 10 days to a reported affected area. Its main symptoms of SARS are high fever, combined with a dry cough, shortness of breath, or breathing difficulties .There are three possible diagnostic test are done. The blood sample is being tested if there is an infection when it was first recognized and again 3 weeks later. With regards to the treatment of SARS, there is no proven effective treatment for SARS. There have been different treatment approaches used throughout the affected countries. The WHO and the CDC have established a number of guidelines aimed at stopping transmission of the disease.

Mechanism behind the disease and the physiological processes disrupted by the disease

The illness usually begins with a high fever (temperature greater than 100.4 degrees F). The fever is sometimes associated with chills or other symptoms, including a headache, a general feeling of discomfort, and body aches.

Some people also experience mild respiratory symptoms at the outset. Approximately 10-20 percent of patients have diarrhea. About 3 to 7 days later, dry cough and difficulty breathing may develop. Most people recover within 1 to 2 weeks. However, about 10 to 20% develop severe difficulty breathing, resulting in insufficient oxygen in the blood; worldwide, about half of these people need assistance with breathing. In addition to these symptoms, SARS may be associated with other symptoms including: loss of appetite, malaise, confusion, rash and diarrhea. Severe respiratory illness may occur before abnormalities are noted on chest X-ray. At the outset, the illness may be very mild.

The signs and symptoms in young infants and children may not follow the exact pattern that is seen in adults. Consequently, doctors are on the lookout for a typical forms of presentation in very young infants. In adult patients with SARS, there is usually a fever, which may be accompanied by chills and other symptoms such as headache and general body aches. In the early stages of the illness, patients may have these nonspecific symptoms (headaches and general body aches).

A novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), has recently been identified as the causative agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). SARS-CoV appears similar to other Coronaviruses in both vision structure and genome organization. It is known for other Coronaviruses that the spike (S) glycoprotein is required for both viral attachment to permissive cells and for fusion of the viral envelope with the host cell membrane. Here we describe the construction and expression of a soluble codon-optimized SARS-CoV S glycoprotein comprising the first 1,190 amino acids of the native S glycoprotein (S(1190)).

The codon-optimized and native S glycoproteins exhibit similar molecular weight as determined by Western blot analysis, indicating that synthetic S glycoprotein is modified correctly in a mammalian expression system. S(1190) binds to the surface of Vero E6 cells, a cell permissive to infection, as demonstrated by fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis, suggesting that S(1190) maintains the biologic activity present in native S glycoprotein.

This interaction is blocked with serum obtained from recovering SARS patients, indicating that the binding is specific. In an effort to map the ligand-binding domain of the SARS-CoV S glycoprotein, carboxy- and amino-terminal truncations of the S(1190) glycoprotein were constructed. Amino acids 270 to 510 were the minimal receptor-binding region of the SARS-CoV S glycoprotein as determined by flow cytometry. We speculate that amino acids 1 to 510 of the SARS-CoV S glycoprotein represent a unique domain containing the receptor-binding site (amino acids 270 to 510), analogous to the S1 submit of other coronavirus S glycoproteins.

In our present situation, China has made much progress in developing the first-ever vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), said World Health Organization (WHO) China representative office Tuesday. It has made much progress in developing the first-ever vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), said World Health Organization (WHO) China representative office Tuesday. The WHO encourages efforts from every country, including China, to develop the vaccine against SARS and contribute to a worldwide standard for SARS vaccine experiments, Roy Wadia, from the WHO representative office in China, said Tuesday.

China will start a first-phase clinical trial of its SARS vaccine as early as April or May this year after carrying out pre-clinical, laboratory-based studies. Meanwhile, the WHO influenza network will provide China with prototype vaccine strains to assist developing a bird flu vaccine for humans, Wadia said. The prototype bird flu virus is likely to be available by the end of this month and will be given to vaccine makers around the world, including China, who can produce clinical batches for first-phase tests on humans, he added.

Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Co. Ltd., authorized by the StateDrug Administration, has selected volunteers for the first clinical test of the SARS vaccine in February this year. The test will take three months in Beijing, south China’s Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to make sure whether the vaccine is safe and effective, said the Ministry of Science and Technology of China Monday.

The volunteers, 15 male and 15 female from 18 to 40 years old, will undergo medical examinations and clinical observation. The vaccine has proven to be safe and effective on animals, including the rhesus monkey with an immune system similar to humans, in pre-clinical studies. At least ten types of SARS vaccines are under development and four developed by Canada and the United States will go into clinical trials by the end of this year, while those developed in France and Austria will move into this stage next year. Preliminary clinical trials on a SARS vaccine are underway in China, which gives China the lead in the race to develop the vaccine, the Ministry said.

“Still it is unlikely that an effective vaccine will be available in one to two years since it takes years from pre-clinical trials to actual development and availability of a vaccine for the general population,” -Wadia said.

The WHO stressed the safety of SARS vaccine experiments since it was a difficult and dangerous process, he said. China would work with the WHO for a worldwide standard for SARS vaccine, which is vital to evaluate SARS vaccine experiments carried out in the world, said the information department of the Ministry. Chinese scientists and officials attended an international seminar on SARS vaccines organized by the WHO last week.

It has a great impact as an inpidual getting involved in this kind of disease. With over 1700 persons diagnosed with SARS and almost deaths attributed to the disease, SARS adversely affect the mental health of the people and above all, continues to inflict psychological trauma to survivors and their families.

There will be a new discovery to cure the disease for the next five years. But as we all know diseases such as virus mutate therefore we again find another way to solve this diseases. The Public heath interventions have evolved in keeping with knowledge about the disease. By and large, our public health response to SARS is no different from that of the other affected places. The key measure includes disease surveillance port health screening, contract tracing and quarantine, public education and risk communication, infection control, suspension of school, community mobilization and international liaison. It was agreed that that statistics on SARS and other noticeable diseases, notify each other as soon as possible of any unusual outbreaks whether or not aetiology is known, establish point to point contacts disease communication, and co-operate in scientific research.

With regards to the sources there is no biases or conflict of interest because this is concerning with the health of the people . Our major concern is to cure the diseases and fine way on how to stop this kind of virus.

References:

  • Health-cares.net(your fitness guide)“What are the symptoms and signs of SARS?” http://respiratory-lung.health-cares.net/sars-symptoms.php
  • Petit CM, Melancon JM, Chouljenko VN, Colgrove R, Farzan M, Knipe DM, Kousoulas KG. “Genetic analysis of the SARS-coronavirus spike Glyco-protein functional domains involved in cell-surface expression and cell-to-cell fusion” Pubmed.gov http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&list_uids=16099010&cmd=Retrieve&indexed=google
  • Babcock GJ, Esshaki DJ, Thomas WD Jr, Ambrosino DM. “Amino acids 270 to 510 of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus spike protein are required for interaction with receptor.” Pubmed.gov http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=15078936
  • Peoples daily.(2004) “WHO works with China on SARS, bird flu vaccines” cited : December 16,2006 http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200403/09/eng20040309_136983.shtml
  • pision of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine (BIOMMED), School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
  • Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts 02130, USA. [email protected]
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