SARS-like virus infects the body via a docking point in lung cells, says study.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
SARS is a viral respiratory disease caused by SARS-associated coronavirus.
SARS is a viral respiratory disease caused by SARS-associated coronavirus.
First detected last year, it is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in Southeast Asia, leaping to humans from an animal host.
But hCoV-EMC appears to be more lethal, killing nine out of 15 patients who have been treated for it in the Middle East and Britain. Multiple organ failure, especially the kidneys, has been a hallmark of the disease.
SARS-like Virus Kills 39-year-old Man in Saudi Arabia: WHO
A new victim in Saudi Arabia has succumbed to a SARS-like virus that has struck in Britain and the Middle East, bringing the global toll from the mystery illness to nine, WHO reports.
A new victim in Saudi Arabia has succumbed to a SARS-like virus that has struck in Britain and the Middle East, bringing the global toll from the mystery illness to nine, WHO reports.
The common pipistrelle bat shares the same receptor, they said.
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Patient Dies from SARS-like Virus
In Britain, a person suffering from a SARS-like virus has died, report health officials, becoming the sixth death from the illness worldwide.
In Britain, a person suffering from a SARS-like virus has died, report health officials, becoming the sixth death from the illness worldwide.
And, the paper cautioned, it is also possible that other animal species act as an intermediary between bats and humans.
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Have We Learnt Anything from SARS?
A highly contagious and deadly new illness sent people worldwide scrambling to cancel flights and schools were closed and sales of surgical masks spiked, a decade ago.
A highly contagious and deadly new illness sent people worldwide scrambling to cancel flights and schools were closed and sales of surgical masks spiked, a decade ago.
In a commentary also carried by Nature, US microbiologists Tom Gallagher and Stanley Perlman said that on present evidence, hCoV-EMC "can be transmitted from human to human, (but) fortunately this seems to occur infrequently."
Further work should determine whether the disease "is truly rare and always severe, or alternatively, is widespread but generally mild and therefore not detected."
Source-AFP
