- Sun
- Feb 24, 2013
- Updated: 5:44pm
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Novel coronavirus
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which are known to cause illness in humans and animals. As of 28 September 2012, scientists confirmed two cases of a never-seen-before strain of the virus, a 60-year-old Saudi Arabian man who died in June 2012, and a Qatari man, 49, with travel history to Saudi Arabia. Their symptoms included acute, serious respiratory illness presented with fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. The novel coronavirus is genetically quite distinct from SARS. There has been no evidence to date that the novel coronavirus has been transmitted from person to person.
Saudi boy in Hong Kong has flu, not Sars-like virus
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A Saudi boy in a Hong Kong hospital has the flu, not the deadly Sars-like virus that emerged in the Middle East last month, the Centre for Health Protection confirmed on Monday.
The four-year-old tested negative for novel coronavirus – which has killed one man in Saudi Arabia and left a second critically ill – a centre spokesman said.
“Respiratory specimens taken from the boy tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus but negative for novel coronavirus associated with severe respiratory disease,” he said.
“The patient is not a case of severe respiratory disease associated with novel coronavirus infection.”
The boy was originally classified as a suspected case of novel coronavirus, when he was admitted to Ruttonjee Hospital’s emergency unit on Sunday with fever, cough and vomiting. He was later admitted to Queen Mary Hospital, where he remains in stable condition.
The youngster arrived in Hong Kong with his father, from Jeddah, on Wednesday. His father had a fever two days ago but has recovered.
The centre spokesman said it carried out an urgent investigation into the boy’s case once it was notified by Ruttonjee Hospital on Sunday.
The tests showed the boy has upper respiratory tract symptoms, but found no clinical or radiological evidence of pneumonia.
The influenza A (H1N1) virus is a subtype of the influenza virus, which was the most common cause of human flu in 2009. One of its strains caused the swine flu outbreak in Mexico in 2009, which killed almost 400 people in that country and spread to other parts of the world.
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