SARS-CoV-1
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1), previously known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV),[2] is a strain of coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the respiratory illness responsible for the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.[3] It is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus that infects the epithelial cells within the lungs.[4] The virus enters the host cell by binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2.[5] It infects humans, bats, and palm civets.[6][7] The SARS-CoV-1 outbreak was largely brought under control by simple public health measures. Testing people with symptoms (fever and respiratory problems), isolating and quarantining suspected cases, and restricting travel all had an effect. SARS-CoV-1 was most transmissible when patients were sick, so its spread could be effectively suppressed by isolating patients with symptoms.[8]
This article is about the virus that causes SARS. For the virus that causes COVID-19, see SARS-CoV-2. For the species to which both viruses belong, see SARS-related coronavirus.
On April 16, 2003, following the outbreak of SARS in Asia and secondary cases elsewhere in the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a press release stating that the coronavirus identified by a number of laboratories was the official cause of SARS. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States and the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Canada identified the SARS-CoV-1 genome in April 2003.[9][10] Scientists at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, demonstrated that the SARS coronavirus fulfilled Koch's postulates, thereby confirming it as the causative agent. In the experiments, macaques infected with the virus developed the same symptoms as human SARS patients.[11]
A virus very similar to SARS was discovered in late 2019. This virus, named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the causative pathogen of COVID-19, the propagation of which started the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]
SARS-CoV-1 follows the replication strategy typical of the coronavirus subfamily. The primary human receptor of the virus is angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and hemaglutinin (HE),[40] first identified in 2003.[41][42]
Human SARS-CoV-1 appears to have had a complex history of recombination between ancestral coronaviruses that were hosted in several different animal groups.[43][44] In order for recombination to happen at least two SARS-CoV-1 genomes must be present in the same host cell. Recombination may occur during genome replication when the RNA polymerase switches from one template to another (copy choice recombination).[44]
SARS-CoV-1 is one of seven known coronaviruses to infect humans. The other six are:[45]