Those who were on a plane with the first person in the UK to be diagnosed with a mysterious Sars-like virus called coronavirus are being tracked down so that they can be tested for the illness.
The coronavirus was only found in the Middle East before a man who traveled to London from Saudi Arabia brought the illness back with him. He passed it on to his son who passed away.
The man wasn't alone on the plane when he returned to London. Now members of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) are trying to track down the other passengers who were on the flight from Saudi Arabia to see if they also have the illness, the Daily Mail reports.
This process is standard for any type of illness, including measles and tuberculosis, the Daily Mail notes.
The HPA has spoken with more than 100 people who may have been exposed to the illness.
"Besides the identified secondary cases, all tests carried out on contacts to date have been negative for the novel coronavirus infection," the HPA said, according to the Daily Mail.
Family members and friends of the infected man are also being tracked down. They found that another one of his family members had a mild form of the illness. They have since recovered.
Four people have been diagnosed with the illness in Britain so far. There are 12 known cases in the world and six of those were fatal.
There was one fatality in Britain who was the son of the man who got it while traveling in Pakistan.
The illness is a Sars-like illness which causes a cough, breathing difficulties and fever which can lead to pneumonia and kidney failure.
The illness is not as dangerous as Sars as it is not easily spread among humans. Researchers think it may be spread through bat droppings or water droplets from coughs or sneezes.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
