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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Testing the WHO may raise to 3 the number of deaths from new coronavirus



In total, there have been reported four new cases, three in Saudi Arabia and one in Qatar

November 28, 2012 | 16h 28
GENEVA - The World Health Organization (WHO) expects the lab results to confirm a new death in Saudi Arabia caused by coronavirus detected in last September, which would bring to three the number of infected dead.
"We are waiting to be confirmed two new cases, one of which resulted in fatal. Though at first the person who recovered have tested negative for coronavirus, the result is not reliable and we are waiting for a second proof," said on Wednesday Efe the WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl.
The two people supposedly infected are relatives of two other residents of Saudi Arabia, one of them deceased, whose infections were laboratory confirmed and announced last week by the UN health agency.
In total, the WHO said on Friday four new cases, three in Saudi Arabia and one in Qatar, bringing to six the number of infected yet by the new coronavirus, which manifests itself in patients as a respiratory syndrome and renal .
The first case of this new type of coronavirus was detected and confirmed by the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands earlier this year in a man of 60 years in Saudi Arabia, who died after being hospitalized.
The second case was that of a Qatari who before becoming ill traveled to Saudi Arabia and who recovered in a British hospital.
In both cases the patients suffered renal failure, something that surprised doctors because not normally relates to a pulmonary syndrome, reason began to investigate.
Fadela Chaib, WHO spokeswoman, explained that the two deaths reported so far "are not related."The new virus was detected in early September and was classified as a coronavirus, a family to which also belong to seasonal influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome known as SARS.
A month later, the WHO said that "there was no evidence of virus transmission from human to human."
This organization, along with the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, continues working to better understand the coronavirus and its source, and urged other countries to keep alert.
Until new information available about the disease, the WHO asked who consider that the virus may be present in other countries in which the two different cases were detected.
In this regard, WHO urged health authorities to conduct tests in patients presenting with pneumonia symptoms not common even when not have traveled or have not been in contact with Qataris and Saudis.
He also proposed to investigate any strain of SARS or the presence of any of these syndromes in healthcare professionals "appear regardless of where," and maintained its decision not to recommend no restrictions on travel.  http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/vidae,testes-da-oms-podem-elevar-para-3-o-n-de-mortes-por-novo-coronavirus,966454,0.htm