ORIGIN OF SARS IDENTIFIED
Q&A WITH DRS. PETER DASZAK & JONATHAN EPSTEIN

1. WHY IS THIS BREAKTHROUGH SO IMPORTANT?

It's crucial to identify the reservoir to prevent a future emergence. We can prevent people from getting sick from SARS by breaking the links between the reservoir species that carry the disease, and humans. For example, we can avoid catching them and bringing the disease-carrying animals into the wildlife trade and ingesting them as food or medicine.

2. WHY NOT SIMPLY ELIMINATE THE RESERVOIR?

We can more easily prevent the re-emergence of SARS by minimizing the way we encroach upon bat habitats, and preventing their use in the food trade. There are many reasons to conserve bats: they are critical for insect control, seed dispersal and pollination. Much agriculture would not be possible without them.

3. IS CONSERVATION REALISTIC IN AN EXPLODING ECONOMY OR IN CIRCUMSTANCES OF SUBSISTENCE HUNTING?

We need to recognize that our actions can lead directly to the emergence of this lethal pathogen and most other emerging diseases. We need to minimize the way we encroach on wildlife, and understand the impact of our actions on the health of the environment, animals and ultimately, humans.

4. CAN BATS IN THE U.S. TRANSMIT SARS?

Although it's likely that the distribution of SARS in bats spans Asia, these species of horseshoe bats don't occur in the US. It's unlikely that bats in Europe or North America will carry SARS, but no one has studied it.

5. WILL SARS EMERGE AGAIN?

If we continue to bring live animals into high-density market settings where animals come into contact with large crowds of people, not only will SARS emerge, we can confidently predict that a series of other lethal zoonotic pathogens will emerge to threaten human health.

6. ISN'T IT BETTER JUST TO PRODUCE A VACCINE AGAINST SARS?

While vaccines are an important part of fighting disease, preventing an outbreak is a much more effective and economical way to protect people.

7. WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN SARS AND LETHAL AVIAN FLU?

Both SARS and lethal avian flu are viruses that originate in wildlife reservoirs. Therefore, understanding the way people, livestock and wildlife interact will be key to preventing outbreaks.

8. WHY DO THESE NEW DISEASES ALWAYS COME FROM ASIA?

While SARS and lethal avian flu originated in Asia, the fact is that new diseases emerge from wildlife populations all over the world. Lyme disease and hanta virus, for example, originated in North America.

9. WHAT CAN I DO TO PREVENT MYSELF AND MY FAMILY FROM CATCHING AN EMERGING DISEASE LIKE SARS AND AVIAN FLU?

The outbreaks of these diseases have been small and localized, but we need to move proactively to prevent them from emerging on a global scale. If these diseases spread widely, places like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue urgent guidelines to protect public health and safety.

10. WHAT IS THIS NEW FIELD OF CONSERVATION MEDICINE?