* Two cases so far, in Saudi and Qatari who went to Saudi
* Scientists developing rapid tests for use around the world
* Virus shares symptoms with SARS, may have animal origin
(Adds pix, quotes from WHO spokesman, link to interview)
LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - A new and potentially fatal
virus from the same family as SARS which was discovered in a
patient in London last week appears not to spread easily from
person to person, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on
Friday.
In an update on the virus, which has so far killed a Saudi
man and made a patient from Qatar critically ill, the United
Nations health agency said it was working with international
partners to understand the public health risk better.
"From the information available thus far, it appears that
the novel coronavirus cannot be easily transmitted from person
to person," it said in a statement.
The WHO put out a global alert on Sunday saying a new virus
had infected a 49-year-old Qatari who had recently travelled to
Saudi Arabia, where another man with the same virus had died.
The Qatari was described as critically ill on Tuesday and is
being treated in a London hospital. No new confirmed cases of
infection with the virus have since been reported, the WHO said.
The new virus shares some of the symptoms of SARS, or Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome, another coronavirus, which emerged
in China in 2002 and killed around a tenth of the 8,000 people
it infected worldwide.
Both patients who have so far been confirmed with the new
virus suffered kidney failure.
SEVERITY
"Given the severity of the two laboratory confirmed cases,
WHO is continuing to monitor the situation in order to provide
the appropriate response, expertise and support to its member
states," the WHO statement said.
Scientists at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and
Control (ECDC), which monitors disease in the European Union,
said initial virology results and the separation in time of the
only two confirmed cases suggest the infection may have
developed from animals. Such diseases are known as zoonoses.
"(It) is quite probably of zoonotic origin and different in
behaviour from SARS," the scientists wrote in a "rapid
communication" study in the online journal Eurosurveillance.
Asked about transmission and the possibility of animal to
human spread, WHO spokesman Glenn Thomas said investigations
were continuing.
"But from the evidence we have, and given that there are
only two cases confirmed so far and there was a distance and
time distance between the two cases, (the) assumption is that it
isn't easily transferable person to person," he told reporters.
The WHO's clinical guidance to its 194 member states says
health workers should be alert to anyone with acute respiratory
syndrome and requiring hospitalisation who had been in the
Middle East where the virus was found or in contact with a
suspected or confirmed case within the previous 10 days.
The U.N. agency has not recommended any travel restrictions
in connection with the new virus, but said it was working
closely with Saudi authorities on health measures for Muslims
making the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Health experts said rapid progress has already been made in
figuring out the nature and genetic makeup of the new
coronavirus, and in coming up with tests.
"We are developing with our partners sensitive and specific
diagnostic assays and these should be available in the next few
days," Thomas told a briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva.
"If any national authority is concerned about a patient who
is under investigation, if they want to contact us, we can put
them in touch with these laboratories and provide initial tests
for any cases which are suspicious," he added.
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing
by David Stamp and Giles Elgood)
