Better (to be) safe than sorry is a famous cliché, but for a virus described by Dr. Margaret Chan, World Health Organization’s (WHO) general director, as “a threat to the entire world”, I do not know how, when and where one has to be cautious.
For the moment WHO has named it Middle East respiratory symptom coronavirus or MERS-CoV, for it was first seen to have come out from Saudi Arabia. Since then it has been reported that, worldwide, there has been 26 deaths and 49 infections.
Now, with France reporting its first death from this new SARS-like coronavirus, the fatality has increased to 27.
The 65-year-old Frenchman was diagnosed with the disease after returning from a stay in Dubai.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) explains that coronaviruses can affect people or animals and, in worst-case scenarios, cause SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
The disease acts like a cold and causes upper respiratory system problems. Symptoms include fever and cough and can lead to kidney failure and pneumonia.
The bad thing about this new coronavirus, according to CDC, is that there is currently no vaccine to protect against human infection.
The virus is said to have spread from the Gulf to France, Britain and Germany.
Quierosaber's Blog 