WHO: SARS-like virus could cause a global pandemic.

On June 10, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged health authorities worldwide to be vigilant for symptoms in people infected with the Middle East-origin respiratory coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which could trigger a global pandemic.

The MERS virus originated in Saudi Arabia.

The WHO has issued a new set of guidance to countries on the potential for this virus to cause a pandemic, warning that MERS poses a risk as significant as that of other human avian influenza viruses, H5N1, which emerged a decade ago, and H7N9, which was detected in China in March.

This virus is very similar to the virus that caused the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, which killed nearly 800 people and had the potential to spread into a global pandemic.

"We are trying to learn as much as possible and are very concerned about these three viruses," Andrew Harper, WHO's special adviser on health and environmental security, told Reuters in a brief press briefing.

The interim guidelines, which will be supplemented and finalized later this year, draw lessons from the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic, which killed approximately 200,000 people—equivalent to the number of deaths from seasonal influenza each year.

"International concern about the spread of the virus is very high, as this virus can travel around the world. There have been examples of the virus moving from one country to another rapidly through passengers," the WHO said about MERS. Infected individuals have symptoms such as cough, fever, and pneumonia.

Passengers carried the virus to the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. Infections also occurred in Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia, and the UAE. “All countries around the world must ensure that health authorities are aware of the virus and its symptoms. When cases of pneumonia of unknown origin appear, MERS should be considered.”

MERS-CoV, a distant relative of the SARS virus that emerged in Saudi Arabia last year, has been confirmed to have infected 55 people worldwide and killed 31. Forty of the cases are in Saudi Arabia, many at a hospital in the eastern province of al-Ahsa.

"The total number of infections is unclear, but the virus causes death in about 60% of those infected," the WHO said. "To date, about 75% of cases in Saudi Arabia have been men." The origin of the MERS virus remains unknown.

According to Tuoi Tre - TH