http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31397-2003May23.html
 
Segments:
>The researchers then conducted detailed genetic analysis of the virus
>they isolated from the animals and found it was identical to the SARS
>virus except that it was missing 29 components known as base pairs.  The
>missing genetic material came from a gene that carries instructions for
>the production of a protein that makes up part of the virus's shell...
 
>"The lack of this peptide may have helped the virus transmit efficiently
>from human to human.  Perhaps this missing of that piece of protein is
>just the trick, the little difference between a harmless animal virus
>and a human pathogen.  That's a bit of speculation, but this is one
>hypothesis."...
 
>It's unknown whether the animals came to the market infected or became
>infected upon their arrival.  They were sampled from different parts of
>the market...
 
>It may also turn out that these animals caught the virus from yet
>another, unidentified species...
 
>...China apparently only recently began importing the [civets] in
>significant numbers from Vietnam within the past year
 
Oh, in checking further the confusion about the animal types seems to be
more common on lists than in news sources.
[Posted in FML issue 4161]