SARS-Aidan

Emma Connell And Aidan Jamison-Frank SARS is short for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and is also known as TC2
 * 1. Your names**
 * 2. The scientific and common name of the virus.**


 * 3. An image (microscopic photo and/or artist's rendition) of the virus itself (not a picture of someone infected with the virus).**

[|http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/7545.php] [| http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-79268933.html] [|http://www.rense.com/general35/sarrs.htmhttp://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/faq.htm]
 * 4. History/background information: When was is discovered? By who? Where? Are there any major past outbreaks? Where? Is this virus generally located in a specific geographic region? Also provide some statistics about infection numbers, mortality rates, etc.** It’s believed SARS came from an animal to people in rural areas of Guangdong, a town, in southern China. The virus continued to go around infecting people in China for several months and caused Hong Kong to spend $5 billion. Health officials took poor action to this outbreak by not stopping the spread at early stages along with not providing adequate information to other countries. This deadly virus was discovered in Australia in the year 1998 by a group of microbiologists they stated that SARS was a member of the Paramyxoviridae family. In 2003 8,098 people worldwide were strickened with the disease out of the 8,098 people 744 died. Luckily, there were no deaths in the United States.

[| http://diseases.emedtv.com/sars/sars-symptoms.html] [|http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sars/DS00501/DSECTION=symptoms]
 * 5. Symptoms in humans infected with the virus. Are there always symptoms or does the virus stay "dormant" for periods of time?** Symptoms vary for people infected with SARS. Common symptoms include headaches, body aches, and the chills. Some people experience these symptoms 12- 24 hours before getting a fever. 10 to 20 percent of people with SARS have diarrhea. Symptoms also include a runny nose and sore throat, which occurs two to seven days after the common symptoms. SARS may progress to severe pneumonia, which can lead to a scare amount of oxygen in blood and lead to death in untreated.

[|http://sarsprotection.com/sars_transmitted.html] [|http://www.healthtalk.umn.edu/topics/sars/home.html]
 * 6. How is the virus transmitted? Can it pass from human to human? Are there other animals involved in its transmission? Can the virus infect other organisms?** Nobody is certain on how SARS is transmitted but it’s believed that the disease is transfered through water droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Recent studies showed that SARS is not transmitted through the air except in very close proximity. Water droplets from a cough or sneeze will quickly fall to a surface and don’t remain suspended in the air. It’s believed that SARS originally descended from animals like chickens and pigs to humans in Southeast Asia. Those kinds of animals can foster SARS. However, it’s unlikely that pigs and chicken in the United States can transfer the disease to humans. This is so because the standards of how animals are kept, in the United States, are different compared to those of China.


 * Details about virus structure/composition. What kind of nucleic acids does it have? What is its coat/shell made of? What surface proteins does it have?** SARS is a corona virus meaning it’s spherical. The SARS virus is a type of RNA virus meaning that its genetic material is RNA.
 * [| http://currents.ucsc.edu/04-05/01-03/sars_research.asp]

Reference:**[| http://viraldiseases.wikispaces.com/file/view/SchematicdrawingsofSARS.jpg (picture)]

a. It effects the respiratory tract and cells b. SARS is spread through person to person contact c. “Researchers had previously found that the SARS virus enters cells through 'membrane fusion', where the virus binds to receptors on the host cell surface and then transports its genomes into host cells.” [1] d. The virus follows the liptic (the shorter) cycle
 * 8. Details about infection. Which human cells does it infect? How does infection occur? Once the virus injects its DNA/RNA into the cell, what happens? What host cell organelles are involved? What enzymes are involved?**

a. It doesn’t really. Besides the average things like getting a fever, the human body is not especially equipped to fight SARS.
 * 9. How does the human body fight the virus?**

a. There are documented cases of it mutation [2] b. The mutations quickened the spread of the virus from animals to people.
 * 10.** **How has the virus changed over time? Are there documented cases of it mutating? How does this occur? What specific changes were observed and how did this affect humans or other organisms? If no mutations have been directly observed, predict what might happen if the virus were to change in the future.**

a. Yes there is a cure. A vaccine tested cured more than 2/3rds of those infected. Also immunization through the build up of antibodies helped rid the disease.
 * 11. How is this virus treated by medical professionals? Do we have a vaccination/immunization against this virus? How can infection be prevented?**

[1] http://www.scidev.net/en/health/sars/news/scientists-shed-light-on-sars-virus-cell-entry.html
 * Referances:**

[2]http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20040130&id=mJMNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lHADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4190,4860674

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome