LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Doctors should only test people
for a new virus if they are very ill in hospital with a
respiratory infection, have been in Qatar or Saudi Arabia and
test negative for common forms of pneumonia and infections, the
World Health Organisation said on Saturday.
The newly discovered virus from the same family as SARS has
so far been confirmed in only two cases worldwide, one in a
60-year-old Saudi man who died from his infections, and another
in a man from Qatar who is critically ill in a London hospital.
In updated guidance issued six days after it put out a
global alert about the new virus, the WHO said suspected cases
should be strictly defined to limit the need to test people with
milder symptoms.
But it added anyone who has been in direct contact with a
confirmed case and who has any fever or respiratory symptoms
should also be tested.
The WHO said in a statement its new case definition was
designed "to ensure an appropriate and effective identification
and investigation of patients who may be infected with the
virus, without overburdening health care systems with
unnecessary testing."
The United Nations health agency said on Sunday a new virus
had infected a 49-year-old Qatari who had recently travelled to
Saudi Arabia, where another man with an almost identical virus
had died.
The virus is from a family called coronaviruses, which also
includes viruses that cause the common cold and SARS, or Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which emerged in China in 2002 and
killed around a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.
INTENSIVE CARE
A spokeswoman for Britain's Health Protection Agency, where
scientists analysing samples from the Qatari man found a match
with the fatal Saudi case last weekend and reported their
finding to the WHO, said on Saturday the 49-year-old was still
in intensive care.
He is being cared for at St Thomas's hospital, where he has
been connected to an artificial lung to keep him alive.
The WHO says there is so far no evidence to suggest the
potentially fatal virus spreads easily from person to person.
Scientists say the genetic makeup of the virus suggests it may
have come from animals, possibly bats.
The WHO has been collaborating with laboratories such as the
HPA and another lab in the Netherlands which were responsible
for the confirmation of new virus.
"These laboratories have been working on the development of
diagnostic reagents and protocols which can be provided to
laboratories that are not in a position to develop their own,
and these are now available," it said.
But it stressed only patients who fulfilled strict criteria
- including having severed respiratory syndrome, requiring
hospitalisation, having been in Qatar or Saudi Arabia or in
contact with a suspected or confirmed case, and having already
been tested for pneumonia.
"The essence is that this is not for people with coughs and
colds," WHO spokesman Glenn Thomas told Reuters.
Six suspected cases in Denmark last week turned out to be
false alarms and Thomas said it was important "to alleviate the
burden of testing" by ensuring health authorities and members of
the public understand the criteria for a suspected case.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Sophie Hares)
