Detection of etiologic agents of autopsy lung of dead cases and pharyngeal gargles of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

  Objective   To detect the etiologic agents of severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS).

  Methods   The autopsy lung of the 3 dead cases of SARS were collected from Guangdong for thin-section electron microscopic examination.The gene fragments of SARS-CoV from the autopsy lung and pharyngeal gargles were amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), and followed by sequence analysis.

  Results   Chlamy dia-like agent were visualized in all lung tissues of three cases with SARS.Specific gene fragments were amplified from the lung samples of two cases with SARS, which were comfired by DNA sequencing of Blast to belong to SARS-CoV.

  Conclusion   Chlamydia-like particles were found in EM, and SARS-CoV could be detected by RT-PCR from the lung samples and pharyngeal gargles with SARS.