Virus in SARS family sickened man in Qatar

No evidence of human-to-human transmission, German health authority says

The Associated Press

Posted: Nov 23, 2012 10:35 AM ET

Last Updated: Nov 23, 2012 10:34 AM ET

Germany's national health institute says a patient from Qatar has been confirmed to have had a new type of coronavirus but it has shown no signs of being easily transmitted like the related virus that caused the 2003 global SARS outbreak.

Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute, the German institute for disease control, speaks to reporters last year in Berlin. Authorities at the institute say a patient from Qatar confirmed to have had a new type of coronavirus, was treated and released. (Tobias Schwarz/Reuters)

The Robert Koch Institute said Friday the patient fell ill in Qatar in October with severe respiratory problems. He was treated in a specialty clinic in Germany for a month and released this week.

Britain's Health Protection Agency confirmed based on samples that he was sickened by a new coronavirus detected so far only in four other people, from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The Koch institute says there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Some 8,500 people were affected by SARS in 2003 and about 900 died, including 44 in Toronto.

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