Guangzhou (China), Apr 05: Chinese scientists believe that the bacteria Chlamydia is one of the main pathogens of a mysterious respiratory disease that has killed 83 people and infected over 2,500 worldwide, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said. WHO experts here were told yesterday that Chinese scientists had consistently found the bacteria in cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) which first appeared in November in Foshan city, southern Guangdong province, who spokesman Chris Powell said.
The Chinese findings point to the possibility that the disease could be caused by the bacteria acting with another pathogen, possibly like the coronavirus, he said.
"It's not two viruses at work, but one virus acting with something else which in china happens to be Chlamydia," Powell told journalists.
Li Liming, director of China's center for disease prevention and control old Xinhua news agency that the bacteria Chinese scientists were focusing on was "Chlamydia-like" or possibly a mutation of Chlamydia.
In many cases of SARS, labs around the world have isolated an apparent new strain of the coronavirus, which causes the common cold and diseases in animals, making it one of the prime suspected pathogens, who experts in Guangzhou said.
In Hong Kong, where at least 17 people have died and over 700 have been infected by SARS, scientists have isolated the paramyxovirus as a possible cause of the mysterious disease. Bureau Report