Chinese scientists have found that cats and foxes carry the virus which causes the deadly respiratory disease Sars, in addition to known carriers civet cats, state media reported Saturday.
Researchers discovered the coronavirus in animals collected in south China's Guangdong province, where Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome first surfaced in November 2002, the Guangzhou Evening News said.
It also quoted Lin Jinyan, the leader of the team, as telling a seminar in Guangzhou city that just over 10 per cent of people in animal markets were carriers.
Earlier this year China carried out a cull of 3,903 civet cats, which are bred or sold as a culinary delicacy in Guangdong, over fears they transmitted the pneumonia-like diseases to humans. The World Health Organisation (WHO) in January pointed to wild animals as the probable source of SARS transmission, but cautioned against jumping to conclusions that the disease was transmitted from animals to humans instead of the other way around.