May 20, 2013
LONDON (AP) — A British hospital says a patient being treated for a mysterious SARS-like virus has died.
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham says the coronavirus victim was an outpatient being treated for "a long-term, complex unrelated health problem" who had a compromised immune system.
A total of 11 people in Britain have been identified with the disease, which was first identified last year in the Middle East. Most had traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Pakistan, but the person who just died is believed to have caught it from a relative in Britain.
Of 12 cases around the world to date, six people have died.
The coronavirus is part of a family of viruses that cause ailments including the common cold and SARS, which killed about 800 people worldwide in 2003.
Associated Press
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