Deadly New Virus Warning: CDC Reports Death of Eight in Arabian Peninsula and U.K.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a cautionary report on Thursday warning of a deadly new virus that has sickened more than a dozen people and killed eight in the Arabian peninsula and U.K.
While no cases of the new virus have been reported in the U.S., the CDC has advised anyone visiting countries in or near the Arabian peninsula, including Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to visit a health professional if fever or other symptoms including a lower respiratory illness develop within 10 days of their travels.
According to Reuters, the new virus is "part of the same family of viruses as the common cold and the deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)that first emerged in Asia in 2003."
Since April last year, 14 people were confirmed to be infected by the new coronavirus, nine of which were infected in either Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Jordan; three people in the U.K. have also been infected.
The CDC's analysis showed that the infections in Britain started with a 60-year-old man who recently traveled to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and developed a respiratory illness on January 24, 2013. Samples from the man showed he was infected with both the new virus and with H1N1, or swine flu.
He passed the infection to two members in his household, including a male with an underlying illness who died on February 6 and a female who developed a respiratory illness on February 5, according to FoxNews.com
"In the U.K., an infected man likely spread the virus to two family members. He had recently traveled to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and got sick before returning to the U.K.," according to a CDC release on the virus.
The CDC said people who develop a severe acute lower respiratory illness within 10 days of returning from the Arabian Peninsula or neighboring countries should continue to be evaluated according to current guidelines.
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