Health officials allay fears over new virus

Senior health officials have assured Qatar residents that a newly-detected Sars-like virus, which has so far killed two people across the world and made a third person - a Qatari - critically ill in a London hospital, is not yet a pandemic.  The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced yesterday that a 49-year-old Qatari man was critically ill in a London hospital after contracting an infection similar to the deadly Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus that emerged in 2002 and eventually killed around 800 people. Among those killed by the virus recently is a 60-year-old Saudi national. “We would like to assure Qatar residents that there is no cause to panic because this is a new type of virus, which was detected in London,” Supreme Council of Health Public Health Department director Dr Mohamed al-Thani told an urgently-convened media briefing yesterday evening.

 http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=533368&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56

HK- 'SARS-like' virus alert

'SARS-like' virus alert Mary Ann Benitez Tuesday, September 25, 2012 Authorities are on full alert for a new SARS-like threat that - like the virus that rocked and ravaged Hong Kong nine years ago - can cause severe illness and death.It has surfaced in the Middle East, and travelers who have been to Qatar or Saudi Arabia and return with pneumonia are being targeted for isolation and checks for signs of the virus. Concern has been sharpened by the fact that the Haj, the annual pilgrimage of hundreds of thousands to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, will be in full swing by the middle of October. The 2003 SARS epidemic killed 299 people in Hong Kong among 774 worldwide, though a top health official here believes anything on such a scale this time around is unlikely. Severe acute respiratory syndrome is caused by what is called a coronavirus, taking its name from its crown-like outer part. Such a virus causes the common cold, but a mutation can be horrific. The scare comes after a World Health Organization alert yesterday following a confirmed case of the novel coronavirus infection in a 49-year-old Qatari man who traveled to Saudi Arabia prior to falling sick on September 3. He was admitted to a Qatar hospital in critical condition on September 7 and then airlifted to a London hospital on September 11. He was last night in critical condition after renal failure. The Health Protection Agency UK said virus samples from the man were almost identical to those of a 60-year- old Saudi who died earlier this year. Samples of matter from his  lungs were sequenced by the Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands and reported earlier this month. The WHO is trying to determine the public health implications of the two cases and had not yet recommended travel restrictions. In Hong Kong, the controller of the Centre for Health Protection, Thomas Tsang Ho-fai, warned: "We need to step up surveillance [at] entry points ... to detect whether there is any trace of this coronavirus." But the new strain appears to have limited ability to spread between people. "This is a novel coronavirus," Tsang said. "We're not talking about the return of SARS." Tsang did send a message to doctors, however, saying that people who developed pneumonia from unexplained respiratory illnesses seven days after landing from travels must be reported. People suspected of carrying the virus must be under strict isolation in facilities where staff wear full protective gear, he added. And the Hospital Authority called a teleconference of all public hospital doctors yesterday on the virus. Still, Chinese University chair professor of respiratory medicine David Hui Shu-cheong said: "We need to wait for more information from WHO. We do not know exactly how infectious the disease is and whether this virus has the capacity to cause major outbreaks."  http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=126784&sid=37739567&con_type=3&d_str=20120925&fc=1

. Mohammed Al Thani reveals details of injury citizen mysterious disease like SARS

D. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani during the conference

8:08 p.m.

24

September

2012

Jassim Salman - East Gate
D denied. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, Director of Public Health in the Supreme Council of Health any presence of SARS in Qatar, pointing out that citizens who are suspected of being infected like SARS was doing Umrah and returned before Eid al-Fitr, and see the emergency two weeks ago, and was transferred by plane medical evacuation to London, and is now undergoing medical care there.
This came during a press conference held this evening to respond to what is being traded for injured citizen SARS killer, revealing which doctors HMC that citizens left the country on July 29 last to perform Umrah, and then returned on August 18, and went to the emergency after returning a few days.
And he added. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani said that citizens see the emergency on Sept. 7, and was suffering from pneumonia, shortness of breath and a rise in temperature, doctors found that it is better to move to London, and was transferred a medical evacuation aircraft.
And between the World Health Organization told them yesterday evening through formal methods existence Corona virus has infected citizen, a virus that causes SARS-like symptoms.
 He pointed to the case of citizen-like state for Saudi suffered the same symptoms and died last June.
He d. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, the media hype about the disease not only because it is dangerous, but because it is a new virus.
In response to a question by "East Gate" about the delay of the Supreme Council of Health to announce the injury, he said. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, that there is no delay The World Health Organization told them yesterday evening only the news, but London wanted to get out they were pioneers are the name of the disease, was spreading the word from them.
The manager called the Department of Public Health pilgrims from citizens and residents to take the necessary vaccinations before they left for the pilgrimage this year for their own safety.
In response to reporters' questions the conference about the possibility of an infection suffered by any of the patient's relatives citizen, he said. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, they already performed the necessary tests to relatives of citizens and all mingled, and is not detect any infection, emphasizing that Qatar is void of any infected.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier that the country in critical condition being treated in a London hospital from illness like SARS killer.
The organization said the United Nations said in a statement through its "Global Alert and Response" The tests were conducted on the patient, a diagonal at the age of 49 years and confirmed the presence of the new virus, which belongs to a family of viruses coronal. The large family of viruses coronal and includes the influenza virus and SARS.
The statement said, "including that new coronal virus, the World Health Organization is now beginning the process of gathering more information to determine the implications for public health."
SARS emerged in China in 2002 and killed about 800 people in the world before it becomes under control.
 http://www.al-sharq.com//ArticleDetails.aspx?AID=203998&CatID=64&title=%D8%AF.%20%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF%20%D8%A2%D9%84%20%D8%AB%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%20%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%B4%D9%81%20%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B5%D9%8A%D9%84%20%D8%A5%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9%20%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%86%20%D8%A8%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B6%20%D8%BA%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B6%20%D9%8A%D8%B4%D8%A8%D9%87%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B3

Epidemiological update: two cases of a novel coronavirus laboratory confirmed

24 Sep 2012

A novel coronavirus has been identified with laboratory tests in two patients both with severe respiratory and renal disease. Both had travelled to Saudi Arabia in recent months. It is not clear at this point whether the viruses are identical but there is strong indication that they may be. A British national originally from Qatar first had symptoms on 3 September and was initially hospitalised in Doha, Qatar. He was transferred to the UK on 11 September by air ambulance where he is currently being treated in an intensive care unit in a London hospital. He had earlier travelled to Saudi Arabia. The first case was a 60 year old patient in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in June 2012 who subsequently died. The same coronavirus type as the Qatari case was confirmed by the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. No other cases have been confirmed at this point. Coronaviruses are a group of viruses causing respiratory infections in humans and animals. Up to one third of upper respiratory tract infections with no severe symptoms in adults are caused by a coronavirus. ECDC is working closely with the Health Protection Agency in the UK, Erasmus University Medical Centre, WHO HQ, WHO Euro and the European Commission to coordinate information, assess the risk for further spread and support appropriate response measures.  http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/press/news/Lists/News/ECDC_DispForm.aspx?List=32e43ee8-e230-4424-a783-85742124029a&ID=734&RootFolder=%2Fen%2Fpress%2Fnews%2FLists%2FNews

Ron Fouchier on the New Coronavirus: We Need to Fulfill Koch's Postulates

by Martin Enserink on 24 September 2012, 1:57 PM | 

Health officials around the world are on alert after the discovery of a new virus in two patients with pneumonia. The agent belongs to the coronavirus group, which includes several common cold viruses but also the virus that causes SARS, a severe disease that killed more than 700 people during a fast-moving global outbreak in 2002 and 2003 before it was contained.

The first known patient in the new incident was a 60-year-old man from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who died from pneumonia in July; his case was reported by Ali Mohamed Zaki of the Soliman Fakeeh Hospital in Jeddah on ProMED, an e-mail list about emerging infections, on 15 September. Yesterday, the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency (HPA) reported that a 49-year-old Qatari man, who had traveled to Saudi Arabia and is now being treated in an intensive care unit in London, is infected with the same virus. Several other cases are reportedly under investigation; it's unclear whether the virus can be transmitted between humans or how big a threat it may pose to public health.

ScienceInsider talked to Ron Fouchier, a virologist at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who sequenced the virus's genome and concluded that the Saudi and Qatari patients most likely are infected with the same virus. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: What do you think we're dealing with?

R.F.: For the moment, all we know is that one patient has died and another one is terribly ill. Other cases are under investigation, but as far as I know they have not been confirmed. So for the moment, we're just assuming there were two individual infections, probably from some animal reservoir. They occurred 3 months apart, which is too long for one to have infected the other. I really can't speculate about it.

There are now six known human coronaviruses; one of them is SARS, but four cause the common cold and are quite innocuous. So let's keep both feet on the ground and not blow this out of proportion.

Q: How did your lab get involved in this case?

R.F.: We've been involved in the discovery of several viruses, including another coronavirus, and recently, we published a paper in PLoS ONE describing a test for the entire family of paramyxoviruses. So when Dr. Zaki had cultured an unidentifiable virus from one of his patients, he e-mailed me, primarily because he wanted us to test it for paramyxoviruses, and then he sent us the virus. I asked him whether he had tested for coronaviruses, which he hadn't done yet. There's an assay developed by [the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] that tests for all known coronaviruses. So while the virus was on its way to our lab, Dr. Zaki discovered that it was a coronavirus. But he does not have the facilities to sequence the virus, so that's what we did here.

At the time he posted the finding on ProMED, there was the patient in intensive care in London, so the HPA immediately started looking for a coronavirus as well, and that came back positive. They sent us the sequence of a very small PCR [polymerase chain reaction] fragment, just 200 nucleotides, and except for one nucleotide, it was identical to our virus. Of course, you need to sequence the entire genome, but based on this we can assume we're dealing with the same virus. In the meantime, we have sent the full genome and the virus itself to the U.K., so they can determine whether it really is.

Q: Why did you think it might be a coronavirus?
R.F.: We always think about coronaviruses. … Influenza, paramyxoviruses, and coronaviruses are the most obvious candidates when you have a serious respiratory infection.

Q: Do you want to study this new virus?

R.F.: Yes, we do. We've written a case report with Dr. Zaki about this first case and we're working on the annotation of the full genome, which we'll write up as a paper as well. But of course we'll need to start doing animal experiments. Initially, we assumed it was one isolated case in Saudi Arabia; now that the virus has surfaced in London as well, I think we'll need to become a bit more aggressive.

For starters, we'll find out whether animals get sick from this virus. You can isolate a virus from a patient, but that does not mean they died from it; to show that it causes disease you need to fulfill Koch's postulates. That'swhat we did for SARS, and it's what we hope to do here; we've applied for emergency ethical approval. The most obvious animal species to put this virus in are mice, ferrets, and perhaps monkeys. We've got to see what we can get approval for. http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/09/ron-fouchier-on-the-new-coronavi.html?rss=1

New SARS-like virus detected in Middle East

September 24, 2012 LONDON (AP) — British health authorities have alerted the U.N. of a new respiratory virus that resembles SARS in a severely ill patient who recently traveled to Saudi Arabia — where another man died of a similar illness earlier this year.

The man in the new case was sickened by a coronavirus, which causes most common colds but also causes SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. In 2003, SARS killed hundreds of people, mostly in Asia, in a short-lived outbreak.

Experts said it was unclear how dangerous the virus is. "We don't know if this is going to turn into another SARS or if it will disappear into nothing," said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota. He said it was crucial to determine the ratio of severe to mild cases.

Osterholm also said more information was needed on how the virus is spread — whether it's spread as easily as a common cold or, as in the case of SARS, mostly through close contact and via specific medical procedures like a lung intubation.

He said it was worrying that there had been at least one death from the new virus.

"You don't die from the common cold," he said. "This gives us reason to think it might be more like SARS." The SARS virus was particularly deadly and killed about 10 percent of the people it infected.

The World Health Organization says it is trying to determine the public health implications of the two cases but isn't currently recommending travel restrictions.

Officials are also concerned the upcoming Hajj pilgrimage next month could provide more opportunities for the virus to spread. The Hajj has previously sparked outbreaks of diseases including flu, meningitis and polio.  http://washingtonexaminer.com/new-sars-like-virus-detected-in-middle-east/article/feed/2032900?#.UGA8ZY2PUu4

Vietnam-One day discovered nearly 60,000 smuggled chickens

"Flush" smuggled into domestic poultry breeds: The risk of spread and widespread disease outbreaks

Updated: Monday, 09/24/2012 | 10:56:43 AM

Functional forces in Quang Ninh province arrested boxes smuggled chickens. Photo: TP Amid bird flu are re outbreaks in many localities throughout the country and the risk of spread to the very large outbreak arising from July to now appear H5N1 2.3.2.1 branch (group C) highly virulent, causing rapid death, death many waterfowl continuously in recent years, authorities have arrested several consecutive transporting smuggled poultry breeds, with unclear origin. This situation makes the risk of spread and large-scale disease outbreaks ...

One day discovered nearly 60,000 smuggled chickens Between 2 - 5 am 20/9, in the Pass area But, of P. Quang Hanh Dist. Cam Pha and White Bridge under P. Ha Tu, TP. Halong, Customs Control Team 2 Department Customs of Quang Ninh checked, the detection, arrest four cars shipped 59,000 chickens just 5 days years smuggled originated from China. All four vehicles were running on highway 18 from Mong Cai direction of, on each truck from 14,000 to 15,000 chickens just do not have valid papers. Whole chicken on the estimated value of nearly 300 million. Customs Control No. 2 team in collaboration with the specialized agencies in the province of administrative sanctions for 4 cars, the amount of nearly 30 million, the organization destroy all illegal transportation of chickens. Health perspective, Dr. Nguyen Tran Hien, Director of the Central Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute, said the study, analyze the latest genetic code is not detecting any sudden change in the influenza A/H5N1 virus strains that cause disease in humans. However, the most worrisome risk A/H5N1 influenza virus continues to circulate and cause outbreaks in poultry. It can keep small change in natural evolution, gene rearrangement in the process of human growth and development, recombinant influenza viruses circulating in animals and humans to form a strain new influenza highly pathogenic and potentially be transmitted from person to person. Therefore, the veterinary industry to work closely with the health sector, the need to actively enhance influenza virus surveillance in poultry and in humans for early application of appropriate preventive measures and prevent the spread of epidemic in poultry and poultry-to-human ...  On the same day, at Km102, Highway 37, travel through the town of Huong Son, Phu Binh (Thai Nguyen), when inspecting cars brought BKS 98C-008.20, Police forces, crime prevention and environmental , Thai Nguyen Provincial Police found the car carrying more than 7,000 birds of unknown origin. Drivers fail to produce documents related to the bird carrying the car and claimed on poultry transport from Ta Lung gate, Cao Bang province of Bac Giang province for consumption. Also in the morning 20/9, Binh Tan District Veterinary Station seized a batch of more than 100 chickens have the eye-catching blue, red, pink sold on Tan Ky Tan Quy bring medical waste treatment plant and hazardous waste disposal. A veterinarian said the chicken was imported from China and been dyed so can cause toxic. To be blocked from the original sources of spread Mr. Hoang Van Nam, right Department of Animal Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said of avian influenza virus H5N1 appeared, but still attached branches old, but already there is a difference with the virus in both groups A and B disease in Vietnam in 2011. This group of viruses capable of causing bird flu continues to spread in the future is very high. According the Central Veterinary Diagnostic Center, the new virus appeared in July, August has spread rapidly and over a wide range from the North Central Region.   This new virus is relatively close to group A, but much higher virulence. Dr.Long Thanh, director of the Central Veterinary Diagnostic Centre - Animal Health Department said that the risk is that this strain highly lethal than the old strain. Currently, the authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has begun to clarify the threat analysis of new strains. According to the Department of Animal Health, the country was eight provinces with avian bird deaths, the destruction of more than 180,000 children. However, the Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry Department Nguyen Thanh Son fear, new branches virus can from chicken culling of China, especially chickens smuggled into Vietnam in recent years.Therefore, to prevent the spread of large-scale, MARD has has urgent send Committees of provinces and cities, ministries and agencies, proposals to strengthen prevention and control of avian influenza; pause operation live poultry from the north to the south until control the current avian influenza outbreaks.    http://www.baohoabinh.com.vn/219/73746/Tuon_giong_gia_cam_lau_vao_noi_dia_Nguy_co_lay_lan_va_bung_phat_dich_benh_tren_dien_rong.htm

Information for professionals - novel corona virus September 2012

On 21 September 2012 a novel corona virus was identified in lower respiratory tract specimens of a Qatari national who was receiving treatment for a severe respiratory illness in London. The virus is the same as a novel corona virus recently identifed by Dutch researchers in lung tissue from a national from Saudi Arabia who was ill previously with pneumonia. These are currently the only two known cases where this virus has been isolated.

There are a variety of corona viruses and these include viruses causing common cold symptoms and other types causing the much more serious illness of SARS. In light of the seriousness of the illness in these two patients and the unknown nature of the novel coronavirus, the current patient is being managed in strict respiratory isolation and any staff caring for them must wear full personal protective equipment - FFP3 respirator (staff should be fit tested), goggles, gown and gloves. Anyone who was in close contact with the patient while the patient was ill is being followed up - this includes healthcare workers who provided direct clinical or personal care or examination of the case while they were symptomatic.

The incubation period is currently considered to be up to seven days and therefore any respiratory illness occuring in the seven days following last contact with this case is considered relevant and staff should alert their manager / occupational health service as soon as possible. Symptoms would include fever, cough, or other respiratory symptoms.

At the current time any person recently returning from Saudi Arabia or Qatar with a serious respiratory illness should be managed in strict respiratory isolation (ideally a negative pressure room) and all staff should wear PPE as described above.
Clinicians who think they may have a patient meeting the above criteria should call the fever service on 0844 7788990.

Individuals with health concerns or queries should contact their occupational health department.


Last reviewed: 23 September 2012http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HP.../1317136202801

Museveni explains why he stopped shaking hands

Publish Date: Sep 24, 2012

.

By Vision Reporter

President Yoweri Museveni has called on Ugandans to be more careful with their health saying most of the diseases in Uganda are preventable and can be managed if people were more sensitized.

“Am now 68 years and one of the things I don’t have a budget for is sickness. This is because am a very determined person and I don’t want a situation where I can’t do anything because am sick,” he said.

The President said unlike flue which is airborne, AIDS is a sickness people hunt for and spread to others.

“AIDS you already know where it is and alcohol. You wonder why people should drink until their cheeks are swollen. If I was drinking alcohol, I would not serve you for all this time. You may wonder why I don’t shake hands but wave,” Museveni said.

He explained that he no longer shook hands as a precaution against the deadly Ebola virus. The recent Ebola outbreak in Kibaale district in Western Uganda killed nineteen.

“When it appeared, I made broadcasts because I take sickness very seriously and told people to stop shaking hands. With Ebola you just shake hands and you get it. Fortunately this was managed and it stopped spreading, many people would have died. The last patient was discharged two weeks ago and the health workers are under quarantine until they are cleared. WHO sets these regulations to manage the disease. The Ministry of Health will announce the end of Ebola on October 4. I want people to learn the same. It is not bad manners if I wave,” he said...

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/635546-Museveni-explains-why-he-stopped-shaking-hands.html

Patient at London hospital has new virus found in Saudi Arabia

Posted on 09-24 at 07:26:40 CST

[As released by the UK's Health Protection Agency]

ACUTE RESPIRATORY ILLNESS ASSOCIATED WITH A NEW VIRUS IDENTIFIED IN THE UK

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) can confirm the diagnosis of one laboratory confirmed case of severe respiratory illness associated with a new type of coronavirus. The patient, who is from the Middle East and recently arrived in the UK, is receiving intensive care treatment in a London hospital.

In recent months, this new human coronavirus was also identified in a patient with acute respiratory illness in Saudi Arabia, who subsequently died.

Coronaviruses are causes of the common cold but can also include more severe illness, such as the virus responsible for SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). This new virus, however, is different from any that have previously been identified in humans. Preliminary enquiries haverevealed no evidence of illness in contacts of these two cases, including healthcare workers. Based on what we know about other coronaviruses, many of these contacts will already have passed the period when they could have caught the virus from the infected person.

We are also aware of a small numb  http://www.bnowire.com/inbox/?id=1119&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Novel Coronavirus infection in the United Kingdom

23 SEPTEMBER 2012 - On 22 September 2012, the United Kingdom (UK) informed WHO of a case of acute respiratory syndrome with renal failure with travel history to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Qatar.

The case is a previously healthy, 49 year old male Qatari national that presented with symptoms on 3 September 2012 with travel history to the KSA prior to onset of illness. On 7 September he was admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) in Doha, Qatar. On 11 September, he was transferred to the UK by air ambulance from Qatar. The Health Protection Agency of the UK (HPA) conducted laboratory testing and has confirmed the presence of a novel coronavirus .

The HPA has compared the sequencing of the virus isolate from the 49 year old Qatari national with that of a virus sequenced previously by the Erasmus University Medical Centre, Netherlands. This latter isolate was obtained from lung tissue of a fatal case earlier this year in a 60 year-old Saudi national. This comparison indicated 99.5% identity, with one nucleotide mismatch over the regions compared.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which includes viruses that cause the common cold and SARS. Given that this is a novel coronavirus, WHO is currently in the process of obtaining further information to determine the public health implications of these two confirmed cases.

With respect to these findings, WHO does not recommend any travel restrictions. Information regarding requirements and recommendations for the Hajj season in 2012 can be found at http://www.who.int/ith/updates/20120730/en/index.html  http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_09_23/en/index.html

Saudi Govt issues guidelines to prevent coronavirus attack

MENAFN - Arab News - 24/09/2012 (MENAFN - Arab News) A senior official from the Ministry of Health said yesterday that people should take extra precautions against a new form of the coronavirus, which was recently found in the Kingdom among some patients.

The virus was diagnosed in three people causing the death of two of them; the third is still undergoing treatment.

"There is no cause for alarm about the coronavirus. However, people should be aware of its presence and they should take preventive measures to keep the disease away from them," Undersecretary to the Ministry of Health for Public Health Ziad Al-Memish told Arab News yesterday.

With the changing weather at this time of the year and the start of the Haj season, a new strain of coronavirus has been detected in three patients.
Coronaviruses are considered one of the common etiological agents of the common cold.

Al-Memish said the first case was a Saudi patient diagnosed in one of the hospitals in Jeddah; the second was also a Saudi patient and the third a patient from a GCC country. Two were diagnosed with the illness in London. Two patients died and the third is under treatment.

The official said coronaviruses are well known and most of the patients recover completely with no complications after receiving therapy. He pointed out that 95 percent of the patients recover quickly without complications.
The official said the symptoms of the virus include runny nose, general feeling of illness, mild sore throat, cough, headache, low fever and chills. It can also cause respiratory, intestinal and neurological illness. He advised people to contact their doctors if the symptoms continue for more than two days. Such patients should take Vitamin C as a remedial measure, he added.
"A few patients are infected with this novel strain; complications can develop affecting the respiratory system and the kidneys. It can cause death especially among the elderly and in patients with chronic respiratory and cardiac conditions and among immuno-compromised patients." 

The undersecretary said that such negative occurrences happen rarely and emphasized that there are no reasons for concern.

Human coronaviruses cause about 33 percent of cases of the "common cold." Known human coronaviruses include human coronavirus, human enteric coronavirus and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus.

The official said people should be careful when they mingle in mass gatherings.

"It is advisable to wear masks in crowded places and change them frequently," he said, adding that they also should pay special attention to personal hygiene, hand cleansing, and covering the mouth and nose while sneezing would help prevent the spread of the disease.

Al-Memish urged Umrah and Haj pilgrims to take necessary precautions and vaccines recommended by the government of Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Ministry has instructed all its missions abroad to issue entry visas to t

he kingdom provided the pilgrims comply with the quarantine regulations of the country.

Prior to the commencement of the Umrah and Haj season, the Foreign Ministry, on the advice of the Health Ministry, sent out circulars to all its embassies abroad indicating the quarantine requirements in the respective countries for the issuance of pilgrim visas.
Health Ministry spokesman Khalid Al-Mirghalani told Arab News that the Kingdom has been carefully monitoring developments of instances of infectious diseases. He pointed out that the stipulated requirements in the new circular are in line with the World Health Organization's requirements to control the spread of infectious diseases.

He said that the Kingdom this year has focused on yellow fever, meningitis, seasonal influenza, polio and food poisoning. He added that the stipulated vaccines should be given 10 days before the date of departure for the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

"We have prescribed some vaccines considering the incidence of the disease in the respective countries." He added that the ships and aircraft carrying pilgrims should also produce a certificate that the carriers are free of mosquitoes.

The spokesman affirmed that it will continue to monitor the situation locally, regionally and globally in close coordination with the departments concerned and the international health authorities.

http://www.menafn.com/menafn/1093562374/Saudi-Govt-issues-guidelines-to-prevent-coronavirus-attack?src=RSS

Outbreak of new coronavirus - same family as SARS - has WHO on alert

Helen Branswell, Sunday, September 23, 2012 5:16 PM

The World Health Organization is keeping a close eye on a disease outbreak in Saudi Arabia caused by a virus in the same family as the one that caused SARS.

There have been two confirmed infections with the new coronavirus and tests results are pending on a third suspected case, according to media reports from the Middle East. Two of those three people have died.

While word of a coronavirus outbreak immediately brings SARS to mind, there is too little information at this point to say whether this is anything more than a blip on the viral radar.

Still, with pilgrims beginning to gather in Saudi Arabia for next month's Hajj, the public health community is on alert.

"As with any new virus, this is of concern to us and we're watching it very closely," WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl said Sunday.

There are a large number of coronaviruses. Some infect animals, others infect birds and still others infect people. In humans, coronaviruses typically cause colds.

But a coronavirus was also the cause of the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS, which killed 44 people in Toronto and about 775 people worldwide.

The new coronavirus reportedly causes severe pneumonia and kidney failure.

One of the confirmed cases is in intensive care in a hospital in London, Britain's Health Protection Agency said Sunday.

A statement from the WHO said the person is a 49-year-old man from Qatar who had travelled to Saudi Arabia before he became sick. He was admitted to intensive care in Doha on Sept. 7, but was transferred to Britain by air ambulance on Sept. 11.

"Given that this is a novel coronavirus, WHO is currently in the process of obtaining further information to determine the public health implications of these two confirmed cases," the WHO statement said. It did not refer to the third suspect case.

Professor John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the Health Protection Agency, said to date there is no sign of spread to health-care workers.

That is important because health-care workers often serve as inadvertent sentinels of the spread of infectious diseases. During SARS, for instance, health-care workers were disproportionately affected, catching the new virus from patients they were struggling to save.

"Preliminary enquiries have revealed no evidence of illness in contacts of these two cases, including health-care workers,"the British agency's release stated.

"Based on what we know about other coronaviruses, many of these contacts will already have passed the period when they could have caught the virus from the infected person."

That said, the British agency's release said there have been other cases of serious respiratory illness in the Middle East over the past three months, including in another person who was treated in Britain. That person has since died, the HPA said.

"This person's illness is also being investigated although there is no evidence at present to suggest that it is caused by the same virus or linked to the other two cases. No other confirmed cases have been identified to date in the UK."

A report on the discovery of the new coronavirus appeared last week on ProMED-mail, an Internet-based system for monitoring infectious diseases around the world.

Dr. Ali Mohamed Zaki, a microbiologist from a hospital in Jeddah, revealed that a new coronavirus had been recovered from a 60-year-old man suffering from pneumonia and renal failure. Zaki said the new virus was part of a group of coronaviruses that are closely related to bat coronaviruses.

Tests to confirm that the virus is indeed a newly identified one were conducted at the lab of Dutch microbiologist Ron Fouchier, a leading influenza researcher at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam.

In an email Sunday, Fouchier said his team compared the genetic sequence of the virus they received from Zaki to that isolated from the patient in London.

"The two pieces were 99.5 per cent identical. Although it thus seems that the two cases were caused by the same virus, this is still a premature conclusion," he wrote, cautioning his team had only a small sample of sequence data from the London case to compare to their virus.

The WHO statement said work done in Britain to compare the two viruses also showed they were 99.5 per cent alike.

The WHO is not recommending any travel restrictions at this time.

This year's Hajj is expected to take place between Oct. 24 and 29, but according to the Saudi Arabian government's Ministry of Hajj website, the first day for pilgrims to begin to arrive in the Kingdom was Sept. 17.

The annual Islamic pilgrimage draws hundreds of thousands to the Saudi city of Mecca. The Hajj is one of several large global events — the Olympics are another — that are a constant source of concern for public health officials because of their capacity to spread diseases to many parts of the globe.http://www.globalnews.ca/canada/heal...674/story.html

The next SARS? Coronavirus case in UK

 by David Bradley

The UK alerted the World Health Organisation on Saturday to a case of acute respiratory syndrome with renal failure in a 49-year old man who had visited Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The man, a previously healthy, Qatari national, first showed symptoms on 3 September 2012 and was admitted to intensive care in Doha, Qatar on 7th. He was transferred by air ambulance to the UK on 11th where the Health Protection Agency confirmed infection with a previously unknown coronavirus.

According to Global News, there have been two other confirmed cases resulting in two deaths.

http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/the-next-sars-coronavirus-case-in-uk.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SciencebaseScienceBlog+%28Sciencebase+Science+Blog%29

Alert as SARS-like virus found in Saudi

Alert as SARS-like virus found in Saudi
London, 2 hours, 22 minutes ago


The World Health Organization (WHO) is keeping a close eye on the detection in Saudi Arabia of a virus in the same family as the SARS virus that killed 800 people in 2002.

There have been three confirmed infections with the new coronavirus, according to media reports and two of those three people have died.

WHO yesterday said the SARS-like virus has been identified in Britain in a man who had recently been in Saudi Arabia.
The UN health body, which issued a statement through its "global alert and response" system, said tests on the patient, a 49-year-old Qatari man, confirmed the presence of a new, or novel, coronavirus.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which includes the common cold and SARS.

Earlier, a Saudi Ministry of Health (MoH) statement said that two Saudis — one at a hospital in Jeddah — and another Gulf citizen in Britain were recently diagnosed with the said virus. Two of them died and the third is still under treatment.

The MoH said that most people afflicted with the virus recover after simple treatment, although "in very rare cases and in a rare pattern of this virus, complications occur to the respiratory system and kidneys, which may lead to death, especially in elderly people and those with chronic cardiac illnesses and immune deficiency," the statement said.

The ministry assured the public that such occurrences are rare and the overall health conditions are "reassuring and do not cause concern."

The MoH advised Haj or Umrah pilgrims to abide by the vaccinations and instructions issued by the ministry. 

The WHO statement said: "Given that this is a novel coronavirus, WHO is currently in the process of obtaining further information to determine the public health implications."

SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, appeared in China in 2002 and killed some 800 people globally before being brought under control.

Peter Openshaw, director of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College London, said at this stage the novel virus looked unlikely to prove a concern, and may well only have been identified due to sophisticated testing techniques.

"For now, I would be watchful but not immediately concerned," he told Reuters.

The WHO said the Qatari patient had first presented to doctors on September 3, 2012 with symptoms of an acute respiratory infection.

On September 7, he was admitted to an intensive care unit in Doha, Qatar, and on September 11, he was transferred to Britain by air ambulance from Qatar.

"The Health Protection Agency of the UK conducted laboratory testing and has confirmed the presence of a novel coronavirus," the WHO said.

It said scientists at the HPA compared gene sequences of the virus from the Qatari patient with samples of virus sequenced by Dutch scientists from lung tissue of a fatal case earlier this year in a 60-year-old Saudi national.

The two were almost identical, it said.

Openshaw said the fact the two cases found so far are apparently unrelated suggests "that what has been picked up is just some rare event that in past times might have been undiagnosed".
But he added: "Any evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission or of contact would be more worrying, raising the worry that another SARS-like agent could be emerging."

The WHO said it was not recommending any travel restrictions but would be seeking further information on the virushttp://www.tradearabia.com/news/HEAL_222491.html?