A Chinese consortium of SARS molecular epide miology has made significant progress in its research into molecular evolution of the SARS-coronavirus during the course of the SARS epidemic in China. The research result was reported on-line by US-based Science magazine on January 29. By piecing together the different chapters of the complete evolutionary story of the virus, the research represents the most extensive molecular epidemiological study of the SARS-coronavirus so far and is applauded as a major milestone in the understanding of the epidemic. Over the past months, the researchers have analyzed the genomic sequences of 63 SARS-coronavirus derived from SARS patients infected at various stages, from the beginning until the end, of the epidemic. The result shows that the virus was mutating continuously throughout the epidemic. Its estimated mutation rate, however, is one-third that of the virus responsible for the AIDS.
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