International health officials have
confirmed two more fatal cases of a mysterious
respiratory virus in the Middle East.
The virus has so far sickened nine people and
killed five of them. The new disease is a
coronavirus related to SARS, which killed some
800 people in a global epidemic in 2003, and
belongs to a family of viruses that most often
causes the common cold.
The two cases date back to April and are part of
a cluster of a dozen people, mostly health
workers, who fell sick in an intensive care unit
at a hospital in Zarqa, Jordan. Officials are
investigating whether the 10 other people who
grew sick in Zarqa also were infected and how
the virus might have spread.
“It’s too early to say whether human-to-human
transmission occurred or not, but we certainly
can’t rule it out,” said WHO spokesman Gregory
Hartl.
One of the Jordanian cases was a 40-year-old
female. All of the other patients to date have
been men. The new virus has so far been
identified in patients from Saudi Arabia and
Qatar.
Scientists haven’t found any links between the
sporadic cases of the coronavirus so far, first
detected in September. “We don’t know how
the virus gets around and there are more
questions than answers right now,” Hartl said.
Several of the patients sickened by the new
coronavirus have had rapid kidney failure and
others have suffered severe pneumonia and
respiratory illnesses. The virus is most closely
related to a bat virus and scientists are also
considering whether bats or animals like camels
or goats are a possible source of infection.
Scientists are also considering whether fruit
contaminated by animal droppings may have
spread the virus.
Still, not all of the cases had contact with
animals and WHO said it was possible the virus
was spread between humans in the Jordan
hospital and in a cluster of cases in Saudi
Arabia, where four members of the same family
fell ill and two died.
WHO says the virus is probably more
widespread than just the Middle East and
recommended that countries test any people
with unexplained pneumonia.
Source- Washington Post
confirmed two more fatal cases of a mysterious
respiratory virus in the Middle East.
The virus has so far sickened nine people and
killed five of them. The new disease is a
coronavirus related to SARS, which killed some
800 people in a global epidemic in 2003, and
belongs to a family of viruses that most often
causes the common cold.
The two cases date back to April and are part of
a cluster of a dozen people, mostly health
workers, who fell sick in an intensive care unit
at a hospital in Zarqa, Jordan. Officials are
investigating whether the 10 other people who
grew sick in Zarqa also were infected and how
the virus might have spread.
“It’s too early to say whether human-to-human
transmission occurred or not, but we certainly
can’t rule it out,” said WHO spokesman Gregory
Hartl.
One of the Jordanian cases was a 40-year-old
female. All of the other patients to date have
been men. The new virus has so far been
identified in patients from Saudi Arabia and
Qatar.
Scientists haven’t found any links between the
sporadic cases of the coronavirus so far, first
detected in September. “We don’t know how
the virus gets around and there are more
questions than answers right now,” Hartl said.
Several of the patients sickened by the new
coronavirus have had rapid kidney failure and
others have suffered severe pneumonia and
respiratory illnesses. The virus is most closely
related to a bat virus and scientists are also
considering whether bats or animals like camels
or goats are a possible source of infection.
Scientists are also considering whether fruit
contaminated by animal droppings may have
spread the virus.
Still, not all of the cases had contact with
animals and WHO said it was possible the virus
was spread between humans in the Jordan
hospital and in a cluster of cases in Saudi
Arabia, where four members of the same family
fell ill and two died.
WHO says the virus is probably more
widespread than just the Middle East and
recommended that countries test any people
with unexplained pneumonia.
Source- Washington Post
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