A NEW SARS-LIKE VIRUS THAT COULD BE TRANSMITTED FROM PERSON TO PERSON IS IDENTIFIED

A NEW SARS-LIKE VIRUS THAT COULD BE TRANSMITTED FROM PERSON TO PERSON IS IDENTIFIED

Courtesy: Wordpress

A new respiratory illness has been discovered by UK researchers that bears many similarity to the Sars virus that caused a deadly epidemic in China and the rest of the world a few years ago.  

The new Coronavirus is seen as being zoonotic in origin and derive from animals.  In the case of Sars the original source was the civet, a small animal sometimes eaten by the Chinese.

One case in three of the virus found in the UK is said to have been contracted from a relative of the patient.  

The threat to the population is said to be low, since only 11 cases worldwide have been identified, however the new strain is dangerous.  It causes pneumonia and in some cases kidney failure.    

What seems to be more troublesome with the strain is that it might have the ability to go form person to person, and not just from animal to person, thereby greatly increasing the danger to the population. However, such person-to person transmission in only suspected and not directly confirmed.  The virulence does not seem to be very high at the moment, since only eleven cases have been identified.

In this case, the coronavirus seems to be originating from bats.  

Of the three cases in the UK, only one has been attributed to travel in locales where the person could have contracted the disease from animals, but the other two have raised strong suspicions of person to person contact, since no travel was involved.

Authorities are quick to point out that since no one at the hospital seems to have been infected with the virus, that only close and intimate contact might be needed for transmission and that the 11 cases do not represent the tip of the iceberg as it relates to the possible spread of the virus.  

Source: BBc News. 2.13.13