Americans are being warned of potential infections from a deadly virus previously unseen in humans that has already killed eight people. As of March 7 the eight deaths and six additional cases have been reported by the World Health Organization.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned in a weekly report Thursday that new analysis has confirmed the infection can be passed from human to human.
The virus, a coronavirus, is related to the common cold and the more serious SARS virus that first emerged in 2003. The new virus is not the same as SARS, but does share some characteristics as a respiratory infection.
Most infections of of this new coronavirus have occurred in the Middle East, Reuters reported, but three confirmed infections in Great Britain suggested the virus could transfer from human to human. One of the infected people in Britain has traveled Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and developed a respiratory illness.
Symptoms include severe acute respiratory illness with fever, cough and shortness of breath. To date, no cased have been reported in the U.S.
The CDC analysis stated the infections in Britain started with a 60-year-old man likely contracted the illness while traveling in the middle east and developed respiratory symptoms on Jan. 24. Data indicated the man was also infected with H1N1, or swine flu.
The man subsequently passed the infection to two members of his household, a male with an underlying illness who became ill Feb. 6 and later died, and an adult female who developed the respiratory illness but did not need to be hospitalized.
The CDC stated that people who develop a severe acute lower respiratory illness within 10 days of returning from the Arabian Peninsula should be evaluated.
A website with information and updated on infections can be found here.
Neither the CDC or the WHO has issued any travel restrictions related to the virus, Reuters reported.
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