New SARS-like virus found, man critically ill in UK

A Qatari man struck down with a previously unknown virus related to the deadly SARS infection and the common cold is critically ill in hospital in Britain, the World Health Organisation said on Monday.

The U.N. health body put out a global alert on Sunday saying a new virus had infected the 49-year-old man who had recently travelled to Saudi Arabia - where another man with an almost identical virus had already died.

Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) and respiratory disease experts said there was no immediate cause for concern, although authorities were watching out for any signs of the virus spreading.

"This new virus ... is different from any that have previously been identified in humans," the HPA said.

Any suggestions of a link between the virus and Saudi Arabia will cause particular concern in the build-up to next month's Muslim haj pilgrimage, when millions of people arrive in the kingdom from across the world, then return to their homes.

The virus, known as a coronavirus, comes from the same family as SARS which emerged in 2002 and killed 800 people.

"This is now an international issue," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said. "The (Qatari) patient is still alive but, as we understand, in critical condition," he said.

The HPA said it was recommending the Qatari patient be treated in isolation by doctors and nurses wearing gowns, gloves respirators, goggles and other protective equipment.

It did not recommend any specific actions for travelers or other members of the public.

INTENSIVE CARE

The Qatari man first showed symptoms of an acute respiratory infection while he was in Qatar, the WHO said.

He spent some time in intensive case in Qatar and was later flown to the UK where he was currently in a London hospital's intensive care unit, being treated for acute respiratory infection and kidney failure. Officials declined to name the hospital.

Andrew Easton, a virologist at Britain's University of Warwick, said that with only two cases so far, it was difficult for experts to estimate the potential threat.

"The important thing is to be aware of the virus and to be on the lookout for any evidence that it is more than a rare chance event," he said.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that includes causes of the common cold but can also include more severe illness such as the virus responsible for SARS.

SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, appeared in China in 2002 and infected more than 8,000 people worldwide, killing around 800 of them before being brought under control.

John Oxford, a professor of Virology at Queen Mary, University of London, said he was not too concerned as the new virus was "more likely to join numerous other members of the coronavirus family and behave like a nasty infection rather than join the exception group like SARS".