New SARS-Like Virus Detected

A new respiratory virus has killed one person in Saudi Arabia and left at least one other person in Britain in critical condition. The disease is a coronavirus, the same family of viruses that causes the common cold and SARS—the virus that killed nearly 800 people in 2003. But officials say it is not clear that this disease will spread similarly or cause as many deaths. A spokesman for the World Health Organization cautioned that the virus is “still (in the) very early days. At the moment, we have two sporadic cases and there are still a lot of holes to be filled in.”