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Officials may have found the cause of themysterious eruption of pneumoniathat has sickened heaps of people inChina , consort to news reports .

Initial test results point to a new type of coronavirus as the cause of the irruption , concord to theWorld Health Organization ( WHO ) .

In Brief

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Coronaviruses are a enceinte phratry ofvirusesthat have respiratory sickness and are named for the poll - like spikes projecting from their control surface , according to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention . This menage include the viruses that cause SARS ( severe acute respiratory syndrome ) andMERS(Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ) , as well as viruses that stimulate more mild illness , like the unwashed cold .

New coronaviruses bolt down up from time to clock time in different parts of the world . For exemplar , SARS emerged in China in 2002 , and MERS appeared in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 2012 , according to WHO .

Doctors discovered the newly identified coronavirus , which has not yet been named , by test blood samples and throat swab from 15 people in the outbreak , according to the BBC .

an illustration of the MERS virus, a type of coronavirus

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So far , the outbreak , which was first reported in late December , has revolt 59 the great unwashed in the Chinese city of Wuhan , the BBC report . Ill individuals have experience symptoms such as fever , trunk ache , breathing difficulties and lung trauma , Live Science previously cover .

motion remain about the generator of the virus and how it is broadcast , according to the WHO . So far , there ’s no evidence that the computer virus pass from somebody to person . Several people who fall ominous were dealers or vendors at a intellectual nourishment marketplace in Wuhan , which was closed on Jan. 1 for disinfection , the WHO tell .

Originally published onLive scientific discipline .

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a photo of a syringe pointing at the Democratic Republic of the Congo on a map

A NASA satellite image of Africa with the Democratic Republic of Congo marked with its flag.

Illustration of coronavirus particles. Coronaviruses are a group of viruses named for their appearance under electron microscopy, where their round-tipped surface spikes make them resemble a crown.

A high-resolution microscope image of a particle of a hantavirus against an enlarged, blurred version of the same image. The virus is blue, green and black.

Image of five influenza viruses, depicted in bright colors

Researcher examining cultures in a petri dish, low angle view.

an MRI scan of a brain

Pile of whole cucumbers

Pseudomonas aeruginosa as seen underneath a microscope.

a photo of Joe Biden during a speech

an illustration of Epstein-Barr virus

three prepackaged sandwiches

An image comparing the relative sizes of our solar system�s known dwarf planets, including the newly discovered 2017 OF201

an illustration showing a large disk of material around a star

a person holds a GLP-1 injector

A man with light skin and dark hair and beard leans back in a wooden boat, rowing with oars into the sea

A photograph of two of Colossal�s genetically engineered wolves as pups.

two ants on a branch lift part of a plant