Most of the deadly infections have occurred in the Middle East,but it only takes one infected American to trigger a nationwideoutbreak. A new analysis of the virus has confirmed that it canspread through human contact, according to the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention.
Worldwide, a total of 14 cases have been documented, with eightof those resulting in fatalities. The CDC warns that peopletraveling to the Arabian Peninsula have the highest possible riskof transmission. Of the three cases seen in Great Britain, one camefrom a 60-year-old old man who had traveled to Pakistan and SaudiArabia, while the other two cases came through direct contact withthe first victim. The second person to become infected became illon Feb. 6 and died shortly thereafter.
"The routes of transmission to humans of the novelcoronavirus have not yet been fully determined, but the recent UKexperience provides strong evidence of human-to-human transmissionin at least some circumstances,” Professor John Watson, head ofthe respiratory diseases department at Britain’s Health ProtectionAgency, told Medical News Today.
The CDC is urging everyone who traveled to the Arabian Peninsulaand suffering from respiratory symptoms to immediately get testedfor the novel coronavirus. The health agency also advises USresidents who have been in close contact with such travelers to payclose attention to any symptoms. The illness usually shows upwithin 10 days of infection and brings on a fever, coughing andshortness of breath. All patients develop pneumonia, and somesuffer from kidney failure.
So far, no travel restrictions to the Arabian Peninsula andneighboring countries have been implemented.
The SARS virus, a close relative of the new coronavirus, killednearly 800 people and infected more than 8,000, most of whichoccurred in 2003. Similar to SARS, the new virus is thought toreside in bats, but it is unclear how humans first became infected.The latest patient to succumb to the infected died nine days afterbeing hospitalized in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 10.
The latest coronavirus is not the only American concern: the CDCrecently also warned of a growing number of cases of theCarbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), a superbug that isresistant to all existing antibiotics. Nearly four percent of allUS hospitals and 18 percent of specialized medical facilities haveinfected patients with the bacteria in the first half of 2012,including the National Institutes of Health, the CDC reported. More than 50 percent of patients whose bloodstream becomesinfected with the bacteria die from the infection.
“We have a very serious problem, and we need to sound analarm,” CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Tuesday during apress conference.
With two CDC warnings in the same week, Americans are beingurged to watch their symptoms closely for two separate illnesseswith high mortality rates.
