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Did a Comet Bring SARS to Earth?

COMETS      SEEING      FAMOUS      EXPLORATION      STARDUST      ROSETTA      DEEP IMPACT      HALE-BOPP      DEEP SPACE 1
DID A COMET BRING SARS TO EARTH?       COULD A COMET HIT EARTH?       COMET RESOURCES

Coronavirus image courtesy Clinical Lab Sciences Northern Michigan University
Coronavirus
Northern Michigan University
[click image to enlarge]
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an atypical pneumonia of unknown origin, first recognized at the end of February 2003.

Medical researchers have described the bug that causes SARS as a coronavirus.

WHO is coordinating an international investigation with the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and is providing epidemiological, clinical and logistical support to health authorities in affected countries.

Comets in the picture? Some space biologists have suggested in recent years that comets may contain organic chemicals and even water.

Now a team of scientists led by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe of Britain's Cardiff University have found the SARS coronavirus to be so different from viruses previously known on Earth that it must have come here from outer space on a comet.

Origins and Locations of Some
Historic Pandemics and Epidemics
1141 BCIsraelPlague
430 BCGreecePlague of Athens
540 ADRomeBubonic Plague
600 ADItalyMalaria
1332 ADIndiaBlack Death Plague
1346 ADEuropeBlack Death Plague
1500s ADAmericaSmallpox
1562 ADFrancePlague in Paris
1665 ADEnglandPlague in London
1792 ADEgyptBubonic Plague
1832 ADUSACholera Epidemic
1898 ADCubaYellow Fever
1918 ADworldwideSpanish Flu
1957 ADAsiaInfluenza
1959 ADCongoAIDS
1968 ADHong KongInfluenza
1981 ADTropicsDengue Fever
2003 ADChinaSARS
Writing on May 24, 2003, in the leading British medical journal, The Lancet, the scientists say their extra-terrestrial origin theory follows the panspermia theory, which holds that life evolved somewhere out in space and has been carried from planet to planet on comets.

Noting the sudden appearance of SARS in China, Wickramasinghe's team estimates a ton of bacterial material falls to Earth every day. Other mysterious epidemics in modern times have included the Plague of Athens and the influenza pandemic of 1917-1919.

Could it be true? Virologists and other medical scientists ridiculed the idea that SARS came to Earth from outer space as bizarre. They postulate that the SARS virus evolved from other viruses already found on Earth

In support of that view, Hong Kong scientists reported tracing the SARS virus to Civet Cats, nocturnal and solitary animals considered a delicacy and eaten in south China.

As a precaution against the deadly flu-like epidemic, Hong Kong's Health and Food Department on May 24, 2003, suspended import of Civet Cat meat and asked the public to refrain from contacting Civet Cats. For disease control, Hong Kong already had banned the keeping of live Civet Cats since 1994. The World Health Organization hailed the news.

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