New Eng. Journal of Medicine: Isolation of a Novel Coronavirus from a Man with Pneumonia in Saudi Arabia

[The full article is available at the link.  An excerpt from it]:

The patient's findings on chest radiography together with the clinical symptoms indicated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS), similar to what has been described in severe cases of influenza and SARS.19-21 These pneumonic changes did not respond to antibacterial treatment.22

Ali Moh Zaki, M.D., Ph.D., Sander van Boheemen, M.Sc., Theo M. Bestebroer, B.Sc., Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus, D.V.M., Ph.D., and Ron A.M. Fouchier, Ph.D.

October 17, 2012DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1211721

Abstract

A previously unknown coronavirus was isolated from the sputum of a 60-year-old man who presented with acute pneumonia and subsequent renal failure with a fatal outcome in Saudi Arabia. The virus (called HCoV-EMC) replicated readily in cell culture, producing cytopathic effects of rounding, detachment, and syncytium formation. The virus represents a novel betacoronavirus species. The closest known relatives are bat coronaviruses HKU4 and HKU5. Here, the clinical data, virus isolation, and molecular identification are presented. The clinical picture was remarkably similar to that of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 and reminds us that animal coronaviruses can cause severe disease in humans.

link:  http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1211721?query=featured_home&#t=abstract