A newly identified virus tied to five deaths worldwide since
April appears capable of transmission from one person to
another, British health officials said Wednesday. Until now,
health officials had little evidence of whether the virus could
be transmitted from person to person. Reports of the virus first
emerged in the Middle East or among patients who had traveled
there. Britain, which involves someone who has not recently
traveled to the Middle East, “suggests that person-to-person
transmission has occurred, and that it occurred in the U.K.,”
Professor John Watson of the British Health Protection Agency
said in a statement. Watson added, however, that the risk of
infection still appeared low. If the new virus were more
contagious, “we would have expected to have seen a larger number
of cases,” he said. Eleven people have been sickened with the
virus worldwide, and five of them have died since April,
according to the World Health Organization.The BBC reported that
the British patient appears to have gotten