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Previous Volume 349:1875-1876 November 6, 2003 Number 19 Next

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To the Editor: The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Taiwan described by Hsieh (Aug. 14 issue)¹ grew rapidly from mid-April 2003. We note the chronologic relation between this rapid wave of infections and the visit of a resident of Amoy Gardens, Hong Kong, to Taiwan on March 26.² He rode the train with a female passenger who was linked to a series of local cases.

We recently sequenced the complete genome of the SARS coronavirus associated with the outbreak in Amoy Gardens.³ A comparison of the sequence with those of all other SARS-coronavirus genomes accessible at GenBank (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) in mid-May revealed two polymorphisms (at nucleotides 3852 and 11493, according to the sequence of GenBank accession number AY274119 [GenBank] ) that are found only in the isolates from Amoy Gardens.³ On September 23, another comprehensive comparison with GenBank sequences was performed. Among all the complete genomes of the SARS coronavirus that have been made available publicly to date, only 10 recently submitted Taiwanese isolates share the two-polymorphism fingerprint of the Amoy Gardens isolates; these Taiwanese isolates are designated as TC1, TC2, TC3, TWH, TWJ, TWK, TWS, TWY, TWC2, and TWC3. These molecular data demonstrate that the same strain of the SARS coronavirus was involved in the Amoy Gardens outbreak and the late outbreak in Taiwan. These data provide objective support for the epidemiologic investigations of the World Health Organization and further demonstrate the usefulness of molecular epidemiology.³

Rossa W.K. Chiu, M.B., B.S.
Stephen S.C. Chim, Ph.D.
Y.M. Dennis Lo, D.M.
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, Hong Kong
loym{at}cuhk.edu.hk

References

1. Hsieh Y-H. SARS and the Internet. N Engl J Med 2003;349:711-712. [Free Full Text]
2. Update 46 — WHO sends team to Taiwan, situation in China. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2003. (Accessed October 16, 2003, at http://www.who.int/csr/sars/archive/2003_05_03/en/.)
3. Chim SSC, Tsui SKW, Chan KCA, et al. Genomic characterisation of the SARS-coronavirus of the Amoy Gardens outbreak in Hong Kong. Lancet (in press).

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Related Letters:

SARS and the Internet
Hsieh Y.-H., Drazen J. M., Campion E. W.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2003; 349:711-712, Aug 14, 2003. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Hui, D S C, Chan, M C H, Wu, A K, Ng, P C (2004). Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS): epidemiology and clinical features. Postgrad. Med. J. 80: 373-381 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• The Chinese SARS Molecular Epidemiology Consortium, (2004). Molecular Evolution of the SARS Coronavirus During the Course of the SARS Epidemic in China. Science 303: 1666-1669 [Abstract] [Full Text]