New and Deadly SARS-like Virus Claims Life of UK Patient

The new and deadly SARS-like virus that is associated with travelling to the Middle East has now claimed its first death in the UK. Of the 12 that have been infected, six have succumbed to the virus.

The virus itself is known as a novel coronavirus, or NCoV. It first appeared in September 2012 when the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an international alert to warn health professionals and the public that a previously unknown virus had infected a Qatari man in Britain who had recently been to Saudi Arabia.

The virus itself is in the same family as SARS, which is Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome. It first emerged in China in 2002, and killed a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected. Like SARS, it causes respiratory illness, fever, coughing, kidney failure and breathing difficulties.

This latest case occurred after three family members contracted the virus after one of them travelled to the Middle East and Pakistan. The man who travelled then unintentionally spread the virus to his son and another family member.

Now, the son of the UK family has died. He suffered from a weakened immune system, which probably left him more vulnerable to the infection.

Currently, authorities still aren't sure how this particular virus is spread or where it even originated from. Many authorities believe that it could have first come from human contact with camels or bats, since it's closely related to another virus in bats. Like other coronaviruses, it could be spread through the air in droplets that are produced when a person coughs or sneezes.

Currently, the threat posed by the virus is thought to be low. It seems to struggle to spread in people, and the incidents that have occurred have been quickly isolated.

The recent three instances of disease in the UK, though, have given researchers a new opportunity for study. John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the Health Protection Agency said in an interview with BBC News, "The three recent cases in the UK represent an important opportunity to obtain more information about the characteristics of this infection in humans and risk factors for its acquisitions, particularly in the light of the first ever recorded instance of apparently lower severity of illness in one of the cases."

Health officials have warned that any patient who exhibits SARS-like symptoms should be tested for the new virus.