Seventeen years after SARS killed 44 Canadians and sickened hundreds of others, Canadian officials are closely monitoring a new potential threat — a mysterious virus based in China that has caused atypical pneumonia in at least 59 people.
So far, Chinese officials have ruled out SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which also began in China in 2002. They have also ruled out bird flu, influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, among other potential causes. Officials say there is no evidence yet that it has spread from human to human.
But the world is watching closely. Not just because there are so many unanswered questions about the cluster of undiagnosed viral pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, but because global infectious disease officials have long warned that another pandemic is coming.
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