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A previously unknown coronavirus was recently identified in two individuals from the Middle East who had severe respiratory illness (JW Infect Dis Oct 10 2012). Now, details have been published on the infecting coronavirus and the clinical presentation of the first patient.
A previously healthy, nonsmoking, 60-year-old Saudi man presented with pneumonia and was hospitalized. Despite treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics and oseltamivir, he quickly developed respiratory compromise; on the second hospital day, he was transferred to an intensive care unit and was intubated. He subsequently developed lymphocytopenia, neutrophilia, and thrombocytopenia. Eleven days after hospital admission, he died of progressive respiratory and renal failure…