WHO: SARS-like virus could cause a global pandemic

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

MERS virus originated in Saudi Arabia

The WHO has issued new guidance to countries on the virus's potential to cause a pandemic, warning that MERS poses as great a risk as the human bird flu viruses H5N1, which emerged a decade ago, and H7N9, which was detected in China in March.

The virus is similar to the one that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, which killed nearly 800 people, and has 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 special adviser on health security and the environment, told Reuters at a briefing.

The interim guidance, which will be revised and finalized later this year, draws on lessons from the 2009-2010 H1N1 flu pandemic, which killed about 200,000 people, about the same number as seasonal flu each year.

“International concern about the spread of the virus is high, as this virus can move around the world. There have been examples of the virus moving rapidly from one country to another via passengers,” the WHO said of MERS. People infected have symptoms of cough, fever and pneumonia.

Passengers have carried the virus to Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Infected people have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia and the UAE. “All countries in the world must ensure that health authorities are aware of the virus and its symptoms. When cases of pneumonia of unknown cause 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 cases have been in Saudi Arabia, many at a single hospital in the eastern province of al-Ahsa.

“The total number of cases is not yet known, but the virus is fatal to about 60% of those infected,” the WHO said. “To date, about 75% of cases in Saudi Arabia have been men.” It is still unclear where the MERS virus originated.

According to Tuoi Tre - TH