The World Health Organization (WHO) has today, Wednesday 26th September, urged health workers to report any patient with acute respiratory infection who may have travelled to Saudi Arabia or Qatar and been exposed to a new Sars-like virus.

A small number of other severe respiratory cases that have been reported in the Middle East since July are currently being reviewed by the WHO to see whether they might have been caused by the new virus, including one fatal case in the UK.

“At this stage there is still a lot we don’t know about this new virus,” says Dr. Irene Lai, medical director at International SOS. “What we do know is that this virus belongs to the same family as both SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and the common cold, and that it is capable of causing severe illness. However, it is not yet clear how the disease is caught and transmitted.”

The new virus is a type of coronavirus, a family which includes the common cold and Sars. The Sars virus that spread globally in 2003 killed hundreds of people.

“This virus appears to differ from Sars in a number of ways. As yet, there is no sign that it spreads easily from person to person, and no clusters of illness have been identified. Furthermore, no one who lived with or took care of the people affected so far has become sick. All of these were typical features of the Sars outbreak in 2003,” Lai adds.

“We are monitoring the situation closely and communicating updates to clients as soon as they are available. In the meantime, we advise that good hygiene measures can help to prevent respiratory illness. For instance, washing your hands frequently, avoiding touching your face and keeping some distance from people who are coughing, sneezing or appear sick can all help to prevent the spread of viruses."

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