France Investigates 3 Suspected Cases Of Coronavirus

“French health officials said Friday they are investigating three suspected cases of a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS, while a man confirmed to have the virus remains hospitalized,” the Associated Press reports (Keller, 5/10). “A nurse in a hospital that held France’s only confirmed case of the SARS-like coronavirus that has killed 18 people has been admitted to hospital in northern France on suspicion of being infected herself, French health officials said,” Reuters writes (Savary et al., 5/10). “A doctor and a former hospital roommate who had each been in contact with the first patient also remain hospitalized. Test results are expected later Friday,” the AP adds (5/10). “The ARS local health authority said the two other men were in individual rooms in separate hospitals, one in Lille and the other in the nearby town of Tourcoing, and that tests had been carried out on both of them,” Reuters notes in a separate article (Savary/Bremer, 5/9).

“The 13 recently reported patients have all been linked to a hospital in Hofuf, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province; but how they became infected, or whether there is human-to-human transmission, remains unclear,” Science reports (Enserink, 5/10). “The Saudi government is reportedly conducting ongoing investigation into the outbreak linked to [the] health care facility,” Nature World News notes, adding, “Based on the information it’s received regarding the current situation, the WHO encourages countries to keep a watchful eye out for severe acute respiratory infections in the case of any unusual patterns” (Kemsley, 5/9).

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