Third person infected with Sars-like virus

A SECOND relative of a UK ­patient who recently contracted a potentially fatal Sars-like virus has become infected with the disease, taking the total to three, health experts said.

On Monday, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said one person who had recently travelled to the Middle East and Pakistan was being treated in an intensive care unit at a Manchester hospital after becoming infected with a new type of coronavirus.

On Wednesday, a relative of the patient, who had no recent travel history, became infected and now the HPA has said a third person, who has also not travelled recently, is infected.

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Professor John Watson, head of respiratory diseases at the HPA, said: “Although this case appears to be due to person-to-person transmission, the risk of infection in contacts is still considered to be low.”

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