Patients in Denmark not suffering from new virus: hospital

September 26, 2012 in Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Five people in isolation in a Danish hospital are suffering from a typical influenza strain and not a new SARS-like respiratory illness as feared, the Odense University Hospital said Wednesday.

"The five have tested positive for and because of their general state we are sure that they do not have the new coronavirus," the hospital's chief physician Svend Stenvang Petersen told AFP.

The five, three adults and two children, had been isolated at the hospital since Tuesday amid fears they had contracted a new virus in the same family as (SARS) after they experienced fever, coughing and influenza-like symptoms.

"We will be sending them home tomorrow (Thursday)," Petersen said, adding that all five were well despite their influenza.

Two of the five had recently been to the Middle East, with the father of the two children having travelled to Saudi Arabia and an unrelated man in Qatar.

The new virus was recently identified by the British in a Qatari man transferred to London after apparently picking it up in Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi national died earlier this year from a virtually identical virus, the has said.

The WHO confirmed in a global alert on Monday that the new virus was in the coronavirus family which causes the common cold but can also include more severe illnesses including SARS.

SARS swept out of China in 2003, killing more than 800 people worldwide.

(c) 2012 AFP

not rated yet  

Rank not rated yet
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Novel approach for influenza vaccination shows promise in early animal testing

A new approach for immunizing against influenza elicited a more potent immune response and broader protection than the currently licensed seasonal influenza vaccines when tested in mice and ferrets. The vaccine ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 8 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mild hypothyroidism raises mortality risk among heart failure patients

Patients with underlying heart failure are more likely to experience adverse outcomes from mild hypothyroidism, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 1 hour ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Acne treatment: Natural substance-based formula is more effective than artificial compounds

University of Granada scientists have patented a new treatment for acne that is based on completely natural substances and is much more effective than artificial formulas because it does not create resistance ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 3 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study finds COPD is over-diagnosed among uninsured patients

More than 40 percent of patients being treated for COPD at a federally funded clinic did not have the disease, researchers found after evaluating the patients with spirometry, the diagnostic "gold standard" for chronic obstructive ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 6 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Mysterious illness kills two in southeast Alabama

(AP)—Alabama health officials say a mysterious respiratory illness has left five people hospitalized and two dead in the southeastern part of the state.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 8 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Good marriage can buffer effects of dad's depression on young children

What effect does a father's depression have on his young son or daughter? When fathers report a high level of emotional intimacy in their marriage, their children benefit, said a University of Illinois study.

Hospitals profit when patients develop bloodstream infections

Johns Hopkins researchers report that hospitals may be reaping enormous income for patients whose hospital stays are complicated by preventable bloodstream infections contracted in their intensive care units.

Alleviating hunger in the US, it's a SNAP, researcher says

A University of Illinois researcher says that the cornerstone of our efforts to alleviate food insecurity should be to encourage more people to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) "because ...

Survey points out deficiencies in addictions training for medical residents

A 2012 survey of internal medicine residents at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) – one of the nation's leading teaching hospitals – found that more than half rated the training they had received in addiction and other ...

Obstructive sleep apnea associated with less visceral fat accumulation in women than men

A new study from researchers in Japan indicates that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is independently associated with visceral (abdominal) fat accumulation only in men, perhaps explaining gender differences in the impact of ...

Researchers complete largest genetic sequencing study of human disease

Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have led the largest sequencing study of human disease to date, investigating the genetic basis of six autoimmune diseases.