Animals suspected in spread of new virus

Britain’s Health Protection Agency has published an early genetic sequence of the new respiratory virus related to Sars that shows it is most closely linked to bat viruses, and scientists say camels, sheep or goats might end up being implicated too.

So far, there are no signs the virus will be as deadly as Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed hundreds of people, mostly in Asia, in a 2003 global outbreak.

Global health officials say they haven’t found evidence the virus can spread between people and suspect two victims from the Middle East may have caught it from animals.

“It’s a logical possibility to consider any animals present in the region in large numbers,” said Ralph Baric, a coronavirus expert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Biologists now need to go into the area and take samples from any animals they can get their hands on, including camels and goats,” he said. Baric said it was crucial to find out how widespread the virus is in animals and what kind of contact might be risky for people.

Baric suggested bats might be spreading the virus directly to humans since the two confirmed infections happened months apart. “If there was an established transmission pattern from other animals, we probably would have seen a lot more cases,” he said.

The World Health Organisation said it is considering the possibility the new coronavirus sickened humans after direct contact with animals. The agency is now working with experts in the Middle East to figure out how the two confirmed cases got infected but could not share details until the investigation was finished.

One patient was a Saudi Arabian man who died several months ago while the other is a Qatari national who travelled to Saudi Arabia before falling ill and is currently in critical but stable condition in a London hospital.