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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Coronavirus: how the lessons of Sars could save us today



...For epidemiologists tracking these viruses and their rapidly evolving genomes, it is an onerous, nearly impossible task. Watching and waiting, monitoring fatalities and clusters of infection, trying to determine the right time to act.

The coronavirus now circulating in the Middle East has some worrying features. It is capable of causing destructive pneumonias and, most recently, appears to have acquired the ability to spread from person to person.

Nevertheless, the risk to the general public remains low. Thankfully, the cocktail of properties required to produce a dangerous pandemic have not yet arisen. It remains then for disease surveillance officials to keep up their watch. For them, knowing the right time to put public health measures in place is a difficult balancing act. But we should be thankful for their vigilance. This month marks 10 years since the identification of Sars, the announcement of the WHO's.. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/mar/24/coronavirus-outbreak-middle-east-sars