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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| New Case of SARS-Like Virus in Saudi |
| 2013-05-19 |
| [Naharnet] A new case of the deadly coronavirus has been detected in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... where 15 people have already died after contracting it, the health ministry announced on Saturday on its Internet website. "One new case of novel coronavirus recorded in the Eastern Region" where most of the kingdom's cases have been registered, said the ministry, which this week created a special web page dedicated to the outbreak. "One case of coronavirus has been recorded in the Eastern Region, and he is now under the medical healthcare receiving the proper treatment," the web page in English reported. The latest case takes to 31 the number of officially recorded cases of the virus in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom since September. Fifteen of those have died. On Wednesday, the Geneva-based World Health Organisation reported that two Saudi health workers have contracted the deadly coronavirus from patients -- the first evidence of transmission in a hospital setting. "This is the first time health care workers have been diagnosed with nCoV (novel coronavirus) infection after exposure to patients," the WHO said in a statement. Since last September, the WHO says it has been informed of a global total of 40 laboratory confirmed cases of the virus, including 20 deaths. While the virus has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, Germany, Britannia and La Belle France, where two patients are now in hospital in the northern city of Lille. The virus is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, leaping to humans from animal hosts and eventually killing some 800 people. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #9 Death is part of life. Elijah Cummings (D, Maryland) |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-05-19 16:56 |
| #8 We trust Novartis (the inventors of Ritalin and ADD). |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-05-19 15:09 |
| #7 This might save the day (for the west) |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2013-05-19 14:54 |
| #6 frank, good point the 2002 sars attacked the lungs this disease, sometimes called coronavirus 2012 attacks the kidneys and the lungs simultaneously |
| Posted by: lord garth 2013-05-19 13:36 |
| #5 Scary part is that it was transmitted to the nurses. If it requires full isolation, then treatment availability drops massively because there are limited numbers of such facilities and equipment. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2013-05-19 12:22 |
| #4 This ain't good - if this thing gets loose during a hajj....I don't care what we think of Islamic militants, but given the Islamic distaste for modern science we could end up seeing the worst pandemic in roughly a hundred years. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2013-05-19 12:15 |
| #3 I understand that it is so virulent and hits so hard so quick, that the chances of pandemic is much lower - ironically, it's too deadly |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-05-19 12:07 |
| #2 this outbreak is different from the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak in several ways - transmission vector includes bats (a number of species of these are native to saudiarabia)and bat poop rather than birds - kills middle age people at high rates (the 2002-3003 SARS mostly killed people over 50) -virus seems more robust isn't killed by sunlight |
| Posted by: lord garth 2013-05-19 09:25 |
| #1 Gaia is unhappy. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-05-19 06:11 |