A MYSTERIOUS new respiratory virus that originated in the Middle East spreads easily between people and appears more deadly than SARS, doctors report.

More than 60 cases of what is now called MERS, including 38 deaths, have been recorded by the World Health Organisation in the past year, mostly in Saudi Arabia. So far, illnesses haven't spread as quickly as SARS did in 2003, ultimately killing about 800 people worldwide.

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. Unlike SARS, though, scientists remain baffled as to the source of MERS.

In a worrying finding, the team said on Wednesday MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) not only spreads easily between people, but within hospitals. That was also the case with SARS, a distant relative of the new virus.

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/new-respiratory-virus-worse-than-sars/story-fni0xqlk-1226666723633

Long grammar. Oyibo people & their false alarm, you know, d bird flu stuff. Here 4 Naija, d only respiratiry virus deadlier dan SARS (Special Anti-Robry Squad) is BOKO HARAM.