Cause of Viral Pneumonia Outbreak in China Unknown

Health authorities have ruled out the usual suspects, leading to fears that a novel virus is causing the infections in Hubei Province.

Written byCatherine Offord

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Chinese health authorities are searching for the cause of an outbreak of viral pneumonia in Hubei province that began last month, Reuters reported yesterday (January 5). The respiratory illness, of which there are now 59 documented cases, doesn’t seem to be caused by known pathogens such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, or avian influenza viruses, health authorities said in a statement yesterday, leading to fears that a novel virus is infecting people in the area.

“It sounds to me like it’s something that’s jumped from animals to humans, and it’s in early stages,” virus researcher Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina tells STAT. “And right now it’s virus evolution versus public health control measures to try to prevent spread.”

The first cases of the mysterious illness, which comes with a fever and in some instances ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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