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

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

Shumin Duan, Xin Zhang, Weili Liang, Hui Li, Ying Deng, Yang Gao, Yufei Liu, K. H. Chan, JianGuo Xu, Han Zheng, Biao Kan, Ling Fang, Qiu-Xia Chen, Guoliang Hu, Larry J. Anderson, Xin-Ge YAN, Shu-Yan Gu, Dean D. Erdman, Suxiang Tong, J.S.M. Peiris, Guo-Dong Liang, Wilina Lim, Li Ruan, Biao Di, Lia M Haynes, Duan-Hua Zhou, Pengzhe Qin, Peter Cheng

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.

2004

China, research, SARS, Coronovirus

DOI: 10.3201/eid1010.040445

Emerging Infectious Diseases

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Infectious and parasitic diseases, Medicine