New coronavirus, related to SARS, slowly spreading and killing

Avian influenza viruses may have gotten most of the attention this spring, but there's another unnervingly lethal virus slowly spreading from its point of origin in the Middle East. This one is a previously undescribed coronavirus—the family that gave us SARS—and it has picked up the name "Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus" (MERS-CoV). Although there have only been a few dozen cases confirmed by laboratory tests, nearly half of those infections have killed their victims, and the virus has clearly spread between human hosts.

The current set of infections seems to have started in the Middle East, with reported cases in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. But thanks to modern air travel, individuals who have visited the region have brought infections to Europe, including France, Germany, and the UK. Once there, a number of individuals who were in close contact with those infected have also come down with the virus. As of the latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO), a total of 49 confirmed cases have been described; of these, 27 were fatal.

Those numbers have led the head of the WHO, Margaret Chan, to say that MERS-CoV is "a threat to the entire world" according to CNN. Chan highlighted the fact that we don't know how individuals in the Middle East are picking up infections, which makes it difficult to take measures to limit new infections.