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Reuters
A Saudi man infected with a deadly new virus from the same family as SARS has died, becoming the ninth patient in the world to be killed the disease which has so far infected 15, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
The 39-year-old developed symptoms of the novel coronavirus (NCoV) on February 24 and died on March 2, several days after being hospitalized, the WHO said in a disease outbreak update.
NCoV is from the same family of viruses as those that cause common colds and the one that caused the deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that first emerged in Asia in 2003. The new virus is not the same as SARS, but similar to it and also to other coronaviruses found in bats.
The WHO first issued an international alert in September after the virus infected a Qatari man in Britain who had recently been in Saudi Arabia.
Symptoms of NCoV include severe respiratory illness, fever, coughing and breathing difficulties.
"Preliminary investigation indicated that the (latest Saudi)patient had no contact with previously reported cases of NCoV infection," the WHO said. "Other potential exposures are under investigation."
Nine of the 15 people confirmed to have been infected with NCoV have died. Most cases have been in the Middle East or in patients who had recently traveled there.
Research by scientists in Europe has found that NCoV is well adapted to infecting humans and may be treatable with medicines similar to the ones used for SARS, which killed a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected.
The Geneva-based WHO said it was monitoring the situation closely and urged its member states to continue surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections and to carefully review any unusual patterns.
"WHO is currently working with international experts and countries where cases have been reported to assess the situation and review recommendations for surveillance and monitoring," it said, adding that national authorities should "promptly assess and notify" it of any new NCoV cases.
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60% kill rate. Not bad.
Hey, Kate Kelland - try looking up the definitions for edit and proofread, if you know how to use a dictionary. A word is missing in that highlighted phrase. Also, you need to go back to school and learn the difference between "which" and "that". Did you actually complete fourth grade? If you want to play reporter/writer, then learn how to write correctly.
Virus fail. Its too deadly for its own good, got itself caught before it could get off the ground.
@scales67 While you've got that dictionary cracked open, you should make a point of checking out the definitions for 'douchebag' and 'troll'. Grow up.
Scary ratio. 39 is young, but we don't know the health conditions of the man who dies. It won't be long before it travels around the world, and here to the US. We know that.
Did I read a report wrong the other day where it said a few people aboard a cruise ship were sickened with Coronavirus?
I read about this a few weeks ago and yes a couple of the people who have died were suffering from other complicating illnesses, which may have contributed to their deaths. With so few confirmed reports it will be difficult to know just how deadly the virus really is in healthy people, although we do know that it is exceptionally well suited for infecting humans and it kills quickly. That fact alone, along with the fact that direct exposure to other sick individuals cannot be confirmed for several of the patients should make everyone nervous. It may suggest transmission through the air. The fact that it is a coronavirus would also suggest that possibility. However, I don't believe the coronavirus on the cruise ship is the same virus in this case so at least it hasn't made it's way there yet. This is one we may be hearing more about very soon.
TFNJ, no the cruise ship passengers had norovirus, which is very common but only reported on cruise ships (not schools, day care centers, hotels, etc.). Totally different.
Ah thanks. I skimmed over the headline of that story but didn't have time to read it then.
These days, it is very difficult to contain a virus like this. Especially since they don't know the original source. They know the general area, but not the source. They have to now trace where this man had been and who he had contact with.
Bring it to the USA....... PLEASE....
the first salvo has been fired....
GOD - pissed at the @!$%#ing saudis for creating death and mayhem on his earth, by exporting an intolerant versio of islam, has sent pestilence to arabia.
all jehadi @!$%#ers will not die ...just cordon them off and don't let them fly out.
Maybe they should start an epidemic of it in China or India? That might be able to cut the population (doubt it really) who knows?
Cruel... and not very smart - as if anything like this could be contained within national borders once unleashed. Maybe we're more deserving of being culled anyhow.
Wrongness aside, epidemics actually increase population in the long run. When threatened by high death rates, humans have a tendency to over compensate and excessively reproduce, causing over population. Africa is a good example, its regions most afflicted by aids, malaria, etc.. often have the most over population.
Considering the location I'm leaning toward an engineered bio weapon
Who even has an active bio weapon program anymore? A lot of countries have not-so-secret "secret" chemical warfare programs.. but bio weapons really aren't as common as many believe, in part due to how volatile they are. The US stopped weaponizing germs in 1969, China was never into the idea, .. never got over Japan doing it to them in WW2, Japan stopped when they lost WW2, South Africa stopped their's after the end of Apartheid. Israel? maybe Russia? Possibly North Korea and Iran? Why would any of those people want to attack Saudi Arabia or Qatar? Iran would use it Israel, Israel on Iran, North Korea on the South, Russia on Chechens.
CaliforniaFirst - cite your source for those "facts".
scales.. do your own research, if you're interested. I didn't say what I said to be controversial.. I was just pointing out that bio weapons are widely considered to be of limited military usefulness by most countries. I don't care if you don't believe me. I'm a bit of a nerd for military technologies..
You posted the statements. It's up to you to cite your sources, not the people who read your posts. Most people who post to Newsvine don't have a clue what they are talking about.
actually it isn't up to me to do so. take it or leave it.
I'll bet we do! I would not doubt that the military may release a virus in the Middle east that they have an antidote for and sit back and watch the rag heads die!!!! Would make a great movie too!!!!!!!
Speaking of nerds, who cares. Amazing how anyone can make a comment-NOT. Bye boys & girls.
Dammit people, get educated! This is so absolutely normal for virus evolution in nature that to begin spreading conspiracy BS about escaped bio-engineered weapons is beyond paranoid. This is not a sci-fi movie - learn the difference.
This is how the zombie takeover begins.
LAME!
Hopefully this will become a regionalized super pandemic and wipe out 90% of the Islamic worlds population!
Kevin in Texas - that is unbelievably hateful and stupid. Then what happens - the virus will know who is a Christian and bounce off them?
Way to perpetuate the stereotype that Texans are a bunch of ignorant hicks there Kevin.
I am not an ignorant hick you Yankee @!$%#! New York was ground zero on 9-11, why would you not want to see an end to the gene pool that follows a religion based on hatred? The Koran basically says "that if the infidel cannot be swayed to the Islamic beliefs then the infidel must die".....I say we kill them all first!
Kevin in Texas, please call yourself from land line to the cell phone! You need serious talk. With all that hate you feel I am fine. What I cannot understand is your lack of knowledge. You are actually hating a misquote. I know a man who hated Islam so much that he was ready to kill and also to die. But he would die for a wrong reason, because somebody told him a lie. Can you live with lie? Do you believe that lie is ok? As long as you are happy with it, but since you are misquoting, why don't you really read Quran and then tell me real quote. It wont hurt to know what it really said, would make you more credible. People are sick of that propaganda. You don't have to become Muslim, just try to call you self, be honest with you self. I am happy that I am not you. So much hate would kill me.
Seems so from here.
Kevin in Texas - you could learn a lot from the 'Yankees' who, in spite of living through 9-11, did not let the actions of a few fanatics disturb their minds and hearts to describe all Muslims with the same broad stroke. That is true strength.
If you can get over your prejudices and your own fanaticism, someday maybe you'll get a chance to meet a true Muslim and be personally touched by their great generosity, hospitality and inclusiveness, regardless of race and religion. They will give you the very best, even when they have nothing.
Seriously, I drove by countless people not even looking out their windshields today, but instead their smartphones. I am more worried about dying by some idiot driver that has no respect for his or her let alone anyone else on the road. How about a real story every night on distracted driving by cell phones that kill and injure innocent people on a daily basis in this country!
Mom - I didn't know that you can look out of a cell phone!!! What exciting new technology!!! Perhaps NBCNews.com should be reporting on that rather than a new virus with a mortality rate greater than 50%. You must have been 6 when SARS hit the scene and have never taken a course in biology.
SARS was not just some bird flu scare that we get every year. That one was the real deal, but we got on top of that one quick. 15 cases so far, I am curious to see where this one goes. Hopefully it gets nipped in the bud. 15 "known cases" so far. I am happy to hear that like SARS if can be cured in the same fashion...A glass of O.J. and chicken noodle soup. Hopefully it is that easy this time around too.
"bird flu scare we get every year"
not sure what you mean. We haven't had a case of bird flu in the Americas in a human being. (SARS hit Canada)
Bird flu info isn't a "scare"...it's information. It spreads between people but not easily. But researchers have discovered that it doesn't need that many more gene changes (with other flu virus') to "learn" to spread easily between people
Each time a cluster happens of a few closely associated people..that cluster could be the potential first cluster of a NEW virus that now infects people well. (virus exchanges genes inside a person or animal with other flu virus in the person animal)
So, it's good to have the "avian flu" "scare" because they tell us that something is happening somewhere. Best to keep an eye on it when you hear that then you can see if it's converted to a more infective strain
It has 60% plus kill rate. Lab tests proved that with only a few more gene exchanges they can get the virus to spread between humans easily AND it does not loose it's abilty to kill at that high rate.
Scare.
We sit back too often, taking our life style and technological world for granted.That if something were to nip at us and we don't feel good, we can hop on over to our wonderful doctors and get all patched up with some medication. Or fixed for an injury.Blissfully not even realizing how far our society has moved away from times when our physical sufferings wouldn't have found such an easy cure. When common childhood diseases wiped out countless numbers of young victims, and our pioneer ancestors were stricken down by millions over the centuries everywhere from the most basic afflictions, even here in the old USA.
Having specifically studied the history of disease, noting the peculiar cyclonic pattern to be found as it strikes mankind, I have no doubt that when,(not if), we do see the next big wave of plague like the Spanish Influenza strike across this nation and others, it will happen so fast as to leave us stunned.For it will seem to erupt from multiple areas. Only instead, being carried across this planet by victims not showing symptoms, all the while infecting others.Too late for us to stop it spread by technology.
Just like the plague was spread by rats on ships. But instead of it being limited, no place on earth will be safe. And we would have helped it succeed in all sorts of little ways. Like not taking our antibiotics completely like we should.By not washing our hands like we should all the time, covering our noses or mouths when we cough or sneeze with tissue. Living in filthy, not clean places with other species.We will have brought upon ourselves our own destruction by the simplest failures and foolishness when we have the most sophisticated computers and machines, shields and other measures to prevent diseases. One just can't cure foolishness in some folks, and it cost us our downfall in the end.
With a name like NCoV we know it's gotta be the Russians.
Looks like you have to be the ones to remind people to stay put. And with noxious incentive no less.
There are too many humans on earth & they travel widely. We have abused antibiotics to the point where diseases have adapted & are becoming resistant. In many parts of the world health care is almost non existent & isolated populations become infected & spread illness for prolonged periods before the illnesses are found & identified by medical personnel. Eventually one of those virulent diseases will get into the mobile mainstream & the human population will be decimated. With today's mixing of cultures & travel habits such a disease will be unstoppable & survival will depend more on natural immunity than medical care. We will go from killing each other over greed & differing opinions to having all we can do just to survive at all.
This already happened in the middle ages, it was called the plague. Started off with fleas bites then it went airborne. Darwin was right about survival of the fittest.
First, bubonic plauge never went airborne. It was and is (yes, its not gone) transmitted primarily by parasites. Second, because this is a virus, the widespread use of antibiotics is not relevant to this disease (although it is an issue that should be addressed). Lastly, there is nothing about the modern world that makes deadly diseases more or less likely to evolve than at any time in history. This difference is that we now have ways to combat them (medicine) and it is actually easier to contain them (black death was blood-borne, and still infected basicly the entire population of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Austrailia.
Hamjam is right. Every once in a while we hear of people that have been found dead in the desert OF THE PLAGUE. It scares the heck out of me which is why we NEED TO CLOSE THE BORDERS YESTERDAY. They are bringing 'stuff' that may have no name or known cure. They are also NOT vaccinated and have no clue what cleanliness is. If you do not believe me - work retail for just one week. Some people smell bad and look even worse. And just for those of you who are out to say I am racist - it ain't just latinos either! It is ALL nations that have some here, legally and illegally.
Bubonic plague is endemic in American deserts. Prairie dogs carry it. No, not all of them, and not all colonies- but there are always some infected ones. It's not new. It doesn't arise spontaneously, from being dirty.
Saudi A doesn't seem like a congenial place for a virus (unlike a cockroach), since viruses are pretty fragile in extreme weather.
and who would want to attack them with a bio weapon? Women? well.. maybe, the Iranians would....
Really!?! Are you suggesting that viruses can't adapt to extremes in temperatures? Bacteria live at all extremes. Prions can't be killed by traditional forms of sterilization. Why should a virus be limited to temperatures that are comfortable for humans?
If it is a test of a new bio weapon, we will see a large scale infection next year. The virus needs time to become more drug resistance and easier transmitting between human. The CDC should take notice and do some thing before it is too late. It will take them at least six months to come up with a cure so it will be too late for a few hundred million people.
If its a bioweapon, it freaking sucks. Low transmission rate, relativly low fatality rate, very similar to viruses we have dealt with for our entire history as a species, and may even be vulnerable to medications already in common use.
With jet travel and the way we let anyone in - it could be here already and just misdiagnosed.
Yeah right - just at the time that CDC and NIH have their research dollars SLASHED. The science stupid Republicans are soooo backward.
Yankee, please remember that the president is responsible for presenting the budget to the congress and Obama has NOT done his job again!!!!!!!
Why is it that 70% of the respondents to this article are so damn extreme? I mean, it either has to be a bio weapon, or it should be used to cull civilian populations. What in the hell is going on with our deranged thought processes?
It's a virus, it's deadly, it needs to be contained, and, hopefully, the appropriate authorities are taking it very seriously. See how easy that was?
JRSuperstar - perhaps none of the posters has ever seen The Andromeda Strain. Every time that I read Newsvine posts and see the lack of education, understanding and compassion most people have, I fear for the future of our country. However, I still get hooked by thinking that maybe, just maybe, we will have an intelligent discussion after a news article. Never happens, though.
scales67 - you have really impressed me with your compassion and intelligent commentary. You present as inane. Why would you stick around and read/comment if it is so pointless/hopeless? Just to teach us all a lesson? Wow, thank you! I'll rush right out and correct my life to meet your a-hole expectations!
Scientific illiteracy + recent trend towards panic as the dominant emotion in the public
I know my family are a few of the trees....but this forest needs a fire.
This is how the World will end, with global travel and the mixing of cultures it's just a matter of time when a super virus wipes everything out.
The bugs are gonna win. Time is on their side.
They are patient - we're not.
15 out of 5 billion, not a big problem right now, and not worth a press release
Yeah, that's probably exactly what you said when the first reports of the AIDS virus were published in the early 1980s. Ever hear about the influenza virus that killed millions in the early part of the 20th century? Back then, people did not travel to the extent that we do nowadays and the world's population was much smaller. In other words, a significant percentage of people on the planet were killed back then. It can happen again.
I'm gonna add a LOL here and hope you were joking, and weren't serious in such a stupid post.
Like the people grazing out their side windows to watch others instead of the road?
Could it be people who live in glass houses thing (if you know the rest of it!).
Off topic, get a life or become a real law enfiorcement individual. Probably too old.
I would pay good money to see people grazing out of the side windows of their cars.
Every several centuries there is usually a outbreak of a plague or virus. Sometimes it is the same virus resurfacing, sometimes its different/new. Modern technology however does allow us to find diseases quickly, and eradicate. To be fair despite our vast technology we are still susceptible to a outbreak, though I believe it is unlikely. (I purpose this for countries like the US, Europe, and many Asian nations, third world countries are at major risk due to their disavantages).
To be honest I worry more about mankind diseases or biological weapons being the main threat. For one thing, perhaps one of the most dangerous disease in the world (weaponized smallox) still exists. They remain in the US and Russia (developed during Cold War, who knows if any was leaked during the fall of the USSR, or where most the Russian scientest went for new work afterward). Chances of them being used by a nation unlikey (except maybe Iran) since a biological weapon cannot be controlled. It can spread and hit your own nation with devastating effects (which is why it wasnt used during Cold War). Terrorist however only need to sneak one man with a small cough to kill millions of people.
As a happier note, I learned that several years back the CDC actually came up with a possible zombie apocalypse scenario and plan. So dont worry they wont eat your brains, probably.
Perhaps God is speaking to those Wahhabi bastards and they just aren't hearing.
Really?
If God wants to speak to anyone, He should clean His own house first.
CIA programmed mosquitos. Hey, they got Chavez!
"The 39-year-old developed symptoms of the novel coronavirus (NCoV) on February 24 and died on March 2, several days after being hospitalized, the WHO said in a disease outbreak update."
Six days. I don't know if that's fast or slow when dealing with these viruses. I know from onset to fatality, the Spanish Flu (1917-1918, or thereabouts) was said to be (at times) 24 hours. Of course, not everyone died from it, either.
Let's hope this is a freak strain and will eradicate itself quickly. Otherwise, we may be in for a tough road ahead.