ABSTRACT
SARS and EV71 Officials in southern China are cracking down on illegal trade in civet cats to prevent an outbreak of SARS in the coming months, state news media said Monday [19 February 2007]. About 7,000 health inspectors have been mobilized in Guangdong province, where severe acute respiratory syndrome first emerged in 2002, and have checked 10,000 restaurants for civet cats . . . Civet cats, mongoose-like animals, are considered a delicacy in southern China and are suspected of spreading SARS to humans, although the original source of the virus has not been determined. In January 2004 Guangdong banned the raising, selling, killing and eating of civet cats. But health departments have been receiving increasing reports of illegal trade in the animals since November [2006] . . . During recent inspections a live civet cat and several frozen ones were confiscated and eighteen restaurants were fined . . . The disease that was eventually identified as SARS was first reported in Guangdong in November 2002. It was spread by travellers to dozens of countries and killed 774 people worldwide before subsiding in June 2003. There were 349 deaths reported on the Chinese mainland. China was heavily criticized for being slow to release information on its outbreak and has since been trying to co-operate in investigating emerging diseases like SARS and bird flu.
