The CDC Announces New Virus Threat

The CDC Announces New Virus Threat

Health specialists at the Center for Disease Control or CDC have expressed concern over a new virus that has made 14 people sick worldwide and caused eight of them to die. The concerns were expressed even though no cases were signaled in the United States.

The virus named hCoV-EMC, seems to cause respiratory illness and renal failure and is considered to be extremely dangerous. It was first seen in September 2012 and since has been causing quite a ruckus in the health community because of the similarities it bares with the SARS virus that caused thousands of deaths worldwide.

All cases of the new corona-virus cases have been in the Middle East. Out of the eight deaths, five have been in Saudi Arabia, two in Jordan and one took place in the United Kingdom.

The U.K. case was a 60 year old man who contracted the virus when he was on vacation in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in January 2013.

While no cases have been seen in the United States, the Center for Disease Control is urging all doctors who have patients with severe or inexplicable respiratory or renal illness, especially those who have traveled to the Arabian Peninsula, to report their cases to the CDC.

Posted by George Daniels on Monday March 11 2013, 1:17 PM EDT. Ref: KMBZ. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0