Chinese scientists find chlamydia bateria in SARS cases
( 2003-04-04 11:38 ) (7 )

Chinese scientists believe that the bacteria chlamydia is one of the main pathogens of a mysterious respiratory disease that has killed 83 people and infected over 2,500 worldwide, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said.

WHO experts here were told Friday that Chinese scientists had consistently found the bacteria in cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which first appeared in November in Foshan city, southern Guangdong province, WHO spokesman Chris Powell said.

The Chinese findings point to the possibility that the disease could be caused by the bacteria acting with another pathogen, possibly like the coronavirus, he said. "It's not two viruses at work, but one virus acting with something else which in China happens to be chlamydia," Powell told journalists.

Labs around the world have isolated an apparent new strain of the coronavirus, which causes the common cold and diseases in animals, in many cases of SARS, making it one of the prime suspected pathogens, WHO experts in Guangzhou said.

In Hong Kong, where at least 17 people have died and over 700 have been infected by SARS, scientists have isolated the paramyxovirus as a possible cause of the mysterious disease.

Chlamydia, which is a widespread sexually transmitted disease, is also known to cause atypical pneumonia, while paramyxovirus is also known to cause respiratory diseases.

"Chinese scientists have also found the chlamydia in several cases, so this has not been ruled out as a possible pathogen, just like the paramyxovirus found in Hong Kong," Wolfgang Preiser, a German virologist with the WHO team said. "These pathogens could be working in tandem with the coronavirus."

According to recent WHO figures, the mysterious form of pneumonia has claimed 83 lives out of more than 2,500 probable cases in 17 countries. Officially 47 deaths and nearly 1,200 cases have been recorded in China from a reporting and disease surveillance system that has appeared to be largely a work in progress.