Authorities have made preliminary determination of an illness caused by a potentially novel (new) virus, identified in a hospitalized patient in the Spanish city of Cádiz. Next generation gene sequencing of the virus is underway, using an isolate from a patient sputum sample.

Preliminary [rapid] RT-PCR indicates an RNA virus, although circulating H1N1 or any known strain of influenza have been excluded. Subsequent testing ruled out SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, other coronaviruses, and adenovirus.

According to local authorities, some patients have presented with severe viral illness, but there is no current evidence of easy transmission between people.

Further data is being collected to assess the epidemiology and the clinical characteristics of the illness. More comprehensive investigation is also required to determine the source and modes of transmission as well as to facilitate public health and safety countermeasures. Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Niger, and other reporting areas will continue to monitor and report to the WHO and will be provided with clinical and epidemiological support in response to this novel virus outbreak.

All countries are encouraged to conduct disease detection and response. People demonstrating clinical signs and symptoms of illness plus travel history to affected areas should be screened at international airports and borders. However, no travel restrictions are recommended at this time.

External Relations and Communication

World Health Organization

So: the World Health Organization was now involved. No major alarm bells rang in any of these reports; they’d even specifically mentioned the lack of evidence of any person-to-person transmission. Still, as every infectious disease researcher in the world knew all too well: absence of proof was not proof of absence.

—

NONE OF US spoke as we meandered through the throngs of people staring upward at the Basílica de la Sagrada Família. Inside the cathedral, I gaped at its otherworldly beauty. Massive branching columns, each of unique design, soared to the lofty ceiling. The effect was that of standing in some dazzling supersized forest, alight from the stained glass of each facade. Gaudí, the architect, had structured the cathedral to utilize the sun as an active element in its artwork. Composed of warm primary colors, the west-facing facade mimicked a sunset, while the cooler blues and greens of the east-facing facade provided an illumination more representative of morning. At this hour the midday sun lit the windows equally, those on the west casting a red glow on a line of people kneeling in prayer.

In the middle of the row, a young ponytailed woman, dressed in jeans and a blue college sweatshirt, coughed with such force she bent all the way forward until her face grazed the stone floor. She heaved herself to her feet, her chin tucked into her elbow, and disappeared down a nearby staircase, the echoey sound of her coughing drifting up from the floor below.