No SARS virus was found in civet cats

Introduction: on June 19, new page 1, China Agricultural University held a press conference and announced some results of the school's "special research on animal source coronavirus" No SARS virus was detected in 76 civet cat samples and other wild and domestic animal samples collected from seven provinces and cities in China, including Guangdong Province In addition, researchers found several new animal coronaviruses in the research process, and detected the whole genome sequence of animal coronavirus for the first time in China At the press conference, Professor Yang Hanchun, a key member of the research team, briefed the leaders of relevant departments and the press on the technical results of the research According to reports, as early as mid April, China Agricultural University organized experts from relevant colleges to set up a scientific and technological research team of "animal epidemics and coronavirus genome research", and began to carry out special research on animal source coronavirus In the past two months, researchers have collected 65 kinds of animals from Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Jiangxi and Beijing, including 54 kinds of wild animals and 11 kinds of domestic animals, totaling 732 samples There are 557 wild animal samples and 175 domestic animal samples, including civet cat, bat, monkey, snake, hog badger, rodent, wild bird, frog, pig, poultry, dog, herbivore, cat, weasel badger, wild turtle, reptile, etc Researchers used RT-PCR to detect the genes of coronavirus and SARS virus in 732 samples Results no SARS virus was detected in all samples This shows that there is no scientific evidence to confirm that these animals are the source of SARS virus It is worth mentioning that of the 76 civet cats, 25 were from Guangdong (3 from Shenzhen), 10 from Yunnan, 3 from Guangxi, 3 from Jiangxi, 20 from Shaanxi, 4 from Shanxi and 11 from Beijing The results showed that both wild and cultured civets from the above areas did not carry SARS virus In the course of the study, researchers also found three new coronaviruses in civet cat, weasel badger, hare and wild bird Although these coronaviruses are not SARS viruses, they show that coronaviruses exist in wild animals, and the variation of coronaviruses can not be ignored In the study, the research team also sequenced the whole genome of chicken infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a coronavirus isolated from chickens The virus mainly causes acute and highly contagious respiratory diseases in chickens, with a mortality rate of more than 25% It is one of the major diseases endangering the chicken industry in China This is the first complete genome sequencing of animal coronavirus in China This result provides valuable biological information data for the genetic variation of coronavirus This achievement has been included in the international gene bank In his speech, President Chen Zhangliang said that in a way, the main content of the press conference was not "confirmation", but "confirmation" Because many people in the society have been afraid of animals, especially some wild animals, and even killed a large number of them, which poses a serious threat to the species; more importantly, as one of the important means for farmers to become rich, the breeding industry has faced serious problems After careful research, we decided to publish the research results at this stage, in the hope that it will help deepen the research on animal-derived coronavirus and help the society to recognize and treat animals again President Chen said that in the process of research, we have made some new achievements, which has deepened our understanding of coronavirus, accelerated the research process of animal derived coronavirus, and contributed to the further study of human coronavirus At the news briefing, reporters from Xinhua news agency, CCTV, people's daily, Guangming Daily, China Youth Daily, science and technology daily, science times, Wenhui (Shanghai) and Hong Kong Phoenix TV and Wenhui (Hong Kong) asked experts on-site questions about sampling, testing technology and how to protect wildlife scientifically China Agricultural University has accumulated many years of research in the field of animal virology Through the integration of scientific and technological resources, the university has established an interdisciplinary virus research center to further strengthen the scientific and technological research on animal viruses Sun Qixin, vice president, presided over the press briefing, with the participation of Li Ning, Yu Jialin, Wang Ming, Wu Qingmin, Gong Yuanshi, Wang Bin, Chen Fuyong and other professors of the research team, as well as Wan Shouguo postdoctoral and Gao Zhiqiang doctoral students Leaders from the science and Technology Department of the Ministry of education, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the animal husbandry bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture attended the press briefing RNt