New virus ‘deadlier than Sars’

A mysterious new respiratory virus that originated in the Middle East spreads easily between people and appears more deadly than Sars, doctors have reported after investigating the biggest outbreak in Saudi Arabia. More than 60 cases of what is now called Mers, including 38 deaths, have been recorded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the past year, mostly in Saudi Arabia. So far, illnesses have not spread as quickly as Sars did in 2003, ultimately triggering a global outbreak that killed about 800 people. An international team of doctors who investigated nearly two dozen cases in eastern Saudi Arabia found the new coronavirus has some striking similarities to Sars, but scientists remain baffled about the source of Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome). In a worrying finding, the team said Mers not only spreads easily between people, but within hospitals. That was also the case with Sars, a distant relative of the new virus. “To...