Man hit with Sars-like bug

A man is being treated in Britain after contracting a potentially fatal Sars-like virus, health experts have said.

The 49-year-old, from Qatar, is being treated at an intensive care unit in a London hospital after becoming infected with a new type of coronavirus, said the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Coronaviruses cause most common colds but can also cause Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome). In 2003, hundreds of people died after a Sars outbreak in Asia.

The patient, who was suffering from acute respiratory syndrome and renal failure, was admitted to an intensive care unit in Doha, Qatar, on Sept 7.

He was transferred to Britain by air ambulance on Sept 11.

Before he became ill he had travelled to Saudi Arabia, a WHO spokesman said.

The UK’s Health Protection Agency said the man had contracted a “new virus” which had only been identified in one other case. In that case, the 60-year-old patient from Saudi Arabia died as a result of the virus.