Killer virus can transmit between people: WHO
Source: Agencies |
May 13, 2013, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE World Health Organization said yesterday it appeared likely that the novel coronavirus, which has killed 18 people in the Middle East and Europe, could be passed between people in close contact.
The coronavirus is from the same viral family that triggered the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that swept the world after starting in Asia in late 2003 and killed 775 people.
WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda, speaking after a visit to Saudi Arabia, the site of the largest cluster of infections, told reporters in Riyadh there was no evidence so far that the virus was able to sustain "generalized transmission in communities."
But he added: "Of most concern ... is the fact that the different clusters seen in multiple countries ... increasingly support the hypothesis that when there is close contact, this novel coronavirus can transmit from person to person."
A public health expert said "close contact" in this context meant being in the same small, enclosed space with an infected person for a prolonged period of time.
In France, a second diagnosis of the new SARS-like coronavirus has been confirmed, the health ministry said yesterday, in what appeared to be a case of human-to-human transmission.
The new infection was found in a 50-year-old man who had shared a hospital room with France's only other known sufferer, the ministry said in a statement.
Health experts are concerned about clusters of the new coronavirus strain, nCoV, which was first spotted in the Gulf and has spread to France, Britain and Germany.
There has so far been little evidence of direct and sustained human-to-human transmission of nCoV - in contrast to the pattern seen in the related SARS virus.
The first nCoV case in France, confirmed last Wednesday, is a 65-year-old man who fell ill after returning from Dubai late last month.
Both French patients are in hospital in Lille.
The coronavirus is from the same viral family that triggered the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that swept the world after starting in Asia in late 2003 and killed 775 people.
WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda, speaking after a visit to Saudi Arabia, the site of the largest cluster of infections, told reporters in Riyadh there was no evidence so far that the virus was able to sustain "generalized transmission in communities."
But he added: "Of most concern ... is the fact that the different clusters seen in multiple countries ... increasingly support the hypothesis that when there is close contact, this novel coronavirus can transmit from person to person."
A public health expert said "close contact" in this context meant being in the same small, enclosed space with an infected person for a prolonged period of time.
In France, a second diagnosis of the new SARS-like coronavirus has been confirmed, the health ministry said yesterday, in what appeared to be a case of human-to-human transmission.
The new infection was found in a 50-year-old man who had shared a hospital room with France's only other known sufferer, the ministry said in a statement.
Health experts are concerned about clusters of the new coronavirus strain, nCoV, which was first spotted in the Gulf and has spread to France, Britain and Germany.
There has so far been little evidence of direct and sustained human-to-human transmission of nCoV - in contrast to the pattern seen in the related SARS virus.
The first nCoV case in France, confirmed last Wednesday, is a 65-year-old man who fell ill after returning from Dubai late last month.
Both French patients are in hospital in Lille.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
