New SARS-like virus detected in total of six people from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, WHO says

Nov 27 2012

"A new virus from the same family as SARS which sparked a global alert in September has now killed two people in Saudi Arabia, and total cases there and in Qatar have reached six, the World Health Organization said" on Friday, Reuters reports (Kelland, 11/23). "Of the six known cases ... two have been fatal" and "[o]nly two were clearly connected," as they were members of the same family, according to the New York Times (McNeil, 11/23). In 2003, nearly 8,500 people worldwide were infected by SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, and about 900 of those people died, the Associated Press/CBS News reports. "The WHO said it was continuing to work with the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other international health partners to gain a better understanding of the [current] virus," the news service notes (11/23).