New SARS-like virus worries global health officials
May 14, 2013
Officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern that a severe respiratory disease caused by a newly identified virus, which has killed at least 18 people in the Middle East and Europe, can be spread from person to person. The virus is a previously unknown type of coronavirus. A coronavirus from this same family triggered the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which swept through Asia in 2003 and 2004, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing almost 800. The new coronavirus is related to, but distinct from, the virus that caused SARS. In both SARS and this new disease, patients develop severe pneumonia and sometimes kidney failure, leading to death.
During a pandemic, people may cover their face with masks to protect themselves from a communicable disease. (© Jorge Dan, Reuters)
In humans, coronaviruses are among the many viruses that cause common colds. Corona is the Latin word for crown, and the name coronavirus comes from the crownlike spikes that can be seen on the surface of the virus when it is viewed under a powerful electron microscope. Other types of coronaviruses cause serious or fatal disease in such livestock as hogs, cattle, and chickens.
The new outbreak of disease began in the Middle East in late 2012. The first cases were reported from Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Jordan. Public-health experts do not yet know where this news SARS-like coronavirus originated. Many suspect it may be a coronavirus that normally infects animals. Closely related coronaviruses have been isolated from camels and bats from the Middle East. Medical experts think that perhaps such a coronavirus underwent a mutation that now allows it to infect humans. Most of the 34 reported cases occurred among people who likely had some contact with infected animals.
By May 2013, other cases have been reported from Germany, the United Kingdom, and most recently France, among individuals who had recently returned home from travel to the Middle East. However, one patient in France became ill after sharing a hospital room with a patient who fell ill with the virus after returning from Dubai, leading health officials to worry that the virus can spread from person to person when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Health officials have not yet issued travel warnings or other taken other precautions to prevent the spread of the disease. Officials remain watchful since other coronaviruses have had the ability to spread rapidly across the world in global pandemics. However, there is no evidence that this new coronavirus has the ability to become so widespread.
Other World Book articles:
- The Origin of New Diseases (a Special report)
- Public Health and Safety 2003 (a Back in time article)
- Zoonosis
