Coronavirus – Credit CDC PHIL
# 6574
The World Health Organization has published an update on their Global Alert and Response (GAR) website on the novel coronavirus infection that we’ve been hearing about today out of the United Kingdom.
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 :
For earlier blogs on this story, you may wish to revisit:
HPA Advice For Health Professionals On Coronavirus
UK: HPA Announcement On Novel Coronavirus Case
Details Emerge On (3) Saudi Coronavirus Cases
And you can trace the evolution of this story - going back to September 20th - on the Flutrackers thread Saudi Arabia: 3 cases, 2 deaths due to novel animal coronavirus.
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