A man infected with a Sars-like illness has become the first person in Britain to die from the virus. The 39-year-old, who died in the intensive care unit at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, caught the illness from his father, who had become infected while travelling in Pakistan and the Middle East. So far there have only been four confirmed cases of the illness in Britain and 12 anywhere in the world, with six deaths. Scroll down for video . Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) The illness, known as novel . coronavirus, causes a cough, breathing difficulties and fever which can . lead to pneumonia and kidney failure. It is from the same virus family as Sars, which claimed 900 lives worldwide in 2002 and 2003. But scientists say novel coronavirus is nowhere near as dangerous as it has difficulty spreading between humans. The man who died on Sunday was suffering from a long-term condition which made him more susceptible. His father is still being treated at a hospital in Manchester. And another member of the same family who also caught the virus is being treated at the hospital in Birmingham. Separately, a 49-year-old man infected in Qatar in September is also in hospital. Scientists think the illness may be spread via bat droppings or through water droplets from coughs and sneezes. Three people have died in Saudi Arabia and two in Jordan. A hospital statement released today said: 'The patient was already an outpatient at . Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), undergoing treatment for a long-term, complex unrelated health . condition. 'The patient was immuno-compromised and is believed to have . contracted the virus from a relative who is being treated for the . condition in a Manchester hospital. 'QEHB is working closely with the Health Protection Agency which is . currently following up other household members and contacts of this . case. Professor John Watson, head of the . respiratory diseases department at the HPA, said: ‘This case is a family . member who was in close personal contact with the earlier case and who . may have been at greater risk of acquiring an infection because of their . underlying health condition. 'To date, evidence of person-to-person transmission has been limited. Although this case provides strong evidence for person to person . transmission, the risk of infection in most circumstances is still . considered to be very low.' Infected patients have presented with serious respiratory illness with fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. The lining of the lung, or epithelium, represents an important first barrier against respiratory viruses . A statement issued this afternoon by . the HPA said the man who died and another of the UK cases had no recent . history of foreign travel, suggesting that transmission had occurred in . Britain. A HPA spokesman said: 'One person has . sadly died. This patient had an underlying condition that may have made . them more susceptible to respiratory infections. 'The first patient in this cluster, who had recent travel history to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, is still receiving treatment. 'The third case, who had a mild illness, has recovered.' Today, experts suggested the virus could potentially be treated by targeting the immune system. The coronavirus (NCov) belongs to the same family as the coronavirus SARS, which surfaced in China more than a decade ago and infected 8,000 people worldwide, killing around one in 10 of them. It's thought the virus can penetrate the lining of the passageways in the lung and evade the immune system as easily as a cold virus can. The research also reveals that the virus is susceptible to treatment with interferons, components of the immune system that have been used successfully to treat other viral diseases, opening a possible mode of treatment in the event of a large-scale outbreak. Now scientists at the Institute of Immunobiology at Kantonal Hospital in Switzerland, have tested how well the virus could infect . and multiply in the entryways to the human lung using cultured cells manipulated to mimic the airway lining. The lining of the lung, or epithelium, represents an important first barrier against respiratory viruses. But, said co-author Dr Volker Thiel, this part of the body does not put up a big fight against NCoV. He and his colleagues found that human airway epithelial cells are highly susceptible to NCoV infection and that the virus is able to multiply at a faster initial rate than the SARS virus. He said: 'Surprisingly, this coronavirus grows very efficiently on human epithelial cells.' The researchers asked themselves whether boosting this weak immune response might diminish the virus' ability to infect airway epithelial cells. They found that pre-treating the cells with proteins that are released in response to infection, significantly reduced the number of infected cells. But he added:'We don't know whether the cases we observe are the tip of the iceberg, or whether many more people are infected without showing severe symptoms.' The findings were published in the online journal mBio.
The patient, who was being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, died on Sunday .
Was a relative of patient being treated in Manchester after bringing back coronavirus from Middle East .
Hospital says patient was already receiving treatment for long-term, complex health condition .
A man infected with a Sars-like illness has become the first person in Britain to die from the virus. The 39-year-old, who died in the intensive care unit at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, caught the illness from his father, who had become infected while travelling in Pakistan and the Middle East. So far there have only been four confirmed cases of the illness in Britain and 12 anywhere in the world, with six deaths. Scroll down for video . Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) The illness, known as novel . coronavirus, causes a cough, breathing difficulties and fever which can . lead to pneumonia and kidney failure. It is from the same virus family as Sars, which claimed 900 lives worldwide in 2002 and 2003. But scientists say novel coronavirus is nowhere near as dangerous as it has difficulty spreading between humans. The man who died on Sunday was suffering from a long-term condition which made him more susceptible. His father is still being treated at a hospital in Manchester. And another member of the same family who also caught the virus is being treated at the hospital in Birmingham. Separately, a 49-year-old man infected in Qatar in September is also in hospital. Scientists think the illness may be spread via bat droppings or through water droplets from coughs and sneezes. Three people have died in Saudi Arabia and two in Jordan. A hospital statement released today said: 'The patient was already an outpatient at . Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), undergoing treatment for a long-term, complex unrelated health . condition. 'The patient was immuno-compromised and is believed to have . contracted the virus from a relative who is being treated for the . condition in a Manchester hospital. 'QEHB is working closely with the Health Protection Agency which is . currently following up other household members and contacts of this . case. Professor John Watson, head of the . respiratory diseases department at the HPA, said: ‘This case is a family . member who was in close personal contact with the earlier case and who . may have been at greater risk of acquiring an infection because of their . underlying health condition. 'To date, evidence of person-to-person transmission has been limited. Although this case provides strong evidence for person to person . transmission, the risk of infection in most circumstances is still . considered to be very low.' Infected patients have presented with serious respiratory illness with fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. The lining of the lung, or epithelium, represents an important first barrier against respiratory viruses . A statement issued this afternoon by . the HPA said the man who died and another of the UK cases had no recent . history of foreign travel, suggesting that transmission had occurred in . Britain. A HPA spokesman said: 'One person has . sadly died. This patient had an underlying condition that may have made . them more susceptible to respiratory infections. 'The first patient in this cluster, who had recent travel history to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, is still receiving treatment. 'The third case, who had a mild illness, has recovered.' Today, experts suggested the virus could potentially be treated by targeting the immune system. The coronavirus (NCov) belongs to the same family as the coronavirus SARS, which surfaced in China more than a decade ago and infected 8,000 people worldwide, killing around one in 10 of them. It's thought the virus can penetrate the lining of the passageways in the lung and evade the immune system as easily as a cold virus can. The research also reveals that the virus is susceptible to treatment with interferons, components of the immune system that have been used successfully to treat other viral diseases, opening a possible mode of treatment in the event of a large-scale outbreak. Now scientists at the Institute of Immunobiology at Kantonal Hospital in Switzerland, have tested how well the virus could infect . and multiply in the entryways to the human lung using cultured cells manipulated to mimic the airway lining. The lining of the lung, or epithelium, represents an important first barrier against respiratory viruses. But, said co-author Dr Volker Thiel, this part of the body does not put up a big fight against NCoV. He and his colleagues found that human airway epithelial cells are highly susceptible to NCoV infection and that the virus is able to multiply at a faster initial rate than the SARS virus. He said: 'Surprisingly, this coronavirus grows very efficiently on human epithelial cells.' The researchers asked themselves whether boosting this weak immune response might diminish the virus' ability to infect airway epithelial cells. They found that pre-treating the cells with proteins that are released in response to infection, significantly reduced the number of infected cells. But he added:'We don't know whether the cases we observe are the tip of the iceberg, or whether many more people are infected without showing severe symptoms.' The findings were published in the online journal mBio.
man who died on Sunday was suffering from a a hospital in Manchester. And another member of being treated at the hospital in Birmingham. today said: 'The patient was already an outpatient at . Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), undergoing treatment for a long-term, complex unrelated health . condition.