Contact with wild animals should be strictly avoided since the cause of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has not been definitively identified, warned a Chinese virologist in an interview.
Mao Jiangsen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that a great number of viruses inhabited the bodies of wild animals. Activities such as the hunting and domestication of animals and animal experiments could result in viral transmission.
Based on previous examination of samples, Mao has found that viruses boast a large and complicated network in nature. They often infect wild animals, especially rodents and primates. Such viruses could be dangerous, and even fatal, to humans.
Some diseases, such as Ebola, yellow fever and AIDS, initially existed only on apes and monkeys, producing low fatality rates. However, humans venturing into the deep forests became infected, said Mao.
Yellow fever once sparked an epidemic affecting 250,000 people in western Africa and killed numerous workers in the Panama Canal after spreading to the Americas.
Due to the high degree of virulence, human beings had very little immunity to such diseases. The country must thus tighten controls on restaurants serving meat from wild animals and strictly forbid the killing, transport and processing of wild animals for sale, Mao said.
"Fighting these viruses will be a long and complex battle," he said.
Mao is a famous Chinese virologist who has specialized in his field for 40 years. He invented the vaccine against hepatitis A in 1991, which was a great contribution to the control and prevention of the disease in China.
(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2003)
