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http://content.health.msn.com/conten...e/65/72723.htm


SARS From Space?

British Scientists Offer Alternative Origins of SARS
By Jennifer Warner
Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Friday, May 23, 2003
WebMD Medical News



May 23, 2003 -- Could SARS be from space? A group of British scientists is making that case by proposing that the SARS virus may have originated in outer space, fell down to earth, and landed in China where the outbreak began. But most infectious disease experts are sticking to a more conventional explanation for the origins of SARS.


Officials from the World Health Organization and CDC have stated that the previously unknown form of the coronavirus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is believed to have evolved naturally in animals or humans.


But in a letter published in the May 24 issue of The Lancet, scientists say an alternative theory of celestial origin is "conspicuously missing in such explanations."


They argue that bacteria are deposited on the Earth every day, and disease-causing bacteria and viruses may be evolving in outer space parallel to those on Earth. And the researchers say the random nature of epidemics adds credence to their argument.


"New epidemic diseases have a record of abrupt entrances from time to time, and equally abrupt retreats," write Chandra Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University in Cardiff, UK, and colleagues. "The patterns of spread of these diseases, as charted by historians are often difficult to explain simply on the basic of endemic infective agents."


But other infectious disease experts say non-cosmic arguments on the origins of SARS are much more convincing based on the evidence so far.


"We have no scientific evidence that SARS or any other infectious disease has dropped off a meteor at this point in time, but we have an open mind," said CDC director Julie Gerberding at a briefing yesterday. "Should we discover any evidence supportive of that, we would let you know."


"I think what we're seeing here is a situation that is most explainable by natural evolution of coronaviruses either from an animal or a poultry source, or possibly a coronavirus that's evolved in a human," says Gerberding. "And we don't know the source of the coronavirus, but we have many hypotheses that are far more plausible than meteorites."


With respect to the SARS outbreak, the British researchers say that at first glance there seems to be enough evidence to support a possible outer space explanation for the origins of SARS.


"First, the virus is unexpectedly novel, and appeared without warning in mainland China. A small amount of the culprit virus introduced into the stratosphere could make a first tentative fall out east of the great mountain range of the Himalayas, where the stratosphere is thinnest, followed by sporadic deposits in neighboring areas," write the researchers.


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SOURCES: The Lancet, May 24, 2003. CDC briefing, May 23, 2003.


© 2003 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.


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Interesting theory. If you can't explain it, just claim it came from outer space.

Daval

I wouldnt believe that for a second. Its a natural disease that has evolved in china, most likely cross contamination in a farm situation.

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warrrreagl

I spent too many years reading Carl Sagan to buy that. Any extra-terrestrial virus would have evolved without any contact with our DNA or biological make-up, and the chances of a match would be outrageous. Extra-terrestrial parasites would be required to find similarly constructed organisms for their survival.

It would be similar to me sneezing on a petunia and infecting it. Any virus that had evolved in bodies similar to mine would not be able to make the massive jump to a completely different organism.

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black_death

ok even if it is from space how can you say it cant just jump from one organism to another... we dont know anything about it.....if it is alien then anything can be possible.

matthias16915

I say if its form outer space cool, but who really cares if it is or not. All that matters is that is cleared up quick or it will spread even worse than it already has. I am an Emt with the local ambulance and I am scared shitless that I could come in contact with it.

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Gortexfogg

Wouldn't it burn up once it entered the atomosphere? The whole "it appeared with out warning" thing can be explained by the Chinese government trying to cover it up at first.
And the chances of other life in space with the chances of it living on an asteroid with the chances of that asteroid hitting Earth with the chances of it surviving and infecting us...impossible.

Glory's Sun

I don't buy it..just doesn't sound logical to me. Someone told me that it came from some sort of wild cat in china or something like that?

XenuHubbard

I don't believe it. I believe the density of the human/animal population in Guangdong is to blame.

But this theory was a bit better than the one about China releasing SARS in China during the Iraq-conflict as a warning to the US...

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