Chinese health officials are trying to pinpoint the cause of a mysterious viral pneumonia, and have already ruled out the SARS virus that killed hundreds in a 2002 outbreak.
"Respiratory pathogens such as influenza, avian influenza, adenovirus, infectious atypical pneumonia (SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) have been excluded," the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, said, according to a translation of a statement issued Monday, reports Newsweek.
The virus was first reported last week in the central city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, where at least 59 people in the city of 19 million are ill. Authorities said seven of those infected are considered to be seriously ill, but there have not been any deaths reported.
Experts are still working to identify the pathogen, it said.
The Johns Hopkins Outbreak Observatory noted that there has been a great deal of speculation that the illness has come from the SARS virus, the deadly form of pneumonia that caused outbreaks in 2002 and 2004.
According to Chinese health experts, the first person is thought to have become ill on Dec. 12, and the last was reported on Dec. 29. Most of those infected worked the Huanan seafood market, where in addition to seafood, vendors sell other animals and meat, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. So far, no cases of person-to-person transmission of the illness have been reported.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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