Respiratory disease experts say there's no indication a new mystery virus linked to SARS will spread to Australia after a tourist arrived in Thailand infected with the coronavirus.
The tourist becomes the first person outside China diagnosed with the new and mysterious SARS-linked virus, prompting
The woman was quarantined after landing in Bangkok from Wuhan, eastern China, where the outbreak began at a fish market in December.
The World Health Organisation said it isn't surprised the SARS - or severe acute respiratory syndrome virus - had spread beyond China.
But respiratory disease experts say people in Australia shouldn't get too concerned just yet.
Masked medical staffs analyze semen and blood samples at the Beijing Ditan Hospital in Beijing. Source: AP
University of Queensland's School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences’ Kirsty Short said that while it’s possible the coronavirus could spread to Australia, there's no evidence yet to suggest it's likely to happen.
"This is a new virus, so we've still got a lot to learn about it before we can start doing accurate risk assessments,” she told SBS News.
“Scientists haven't had the chance to study really important things like how transmissible it is from person to person, how long the incubation period is, [and] how long [people] are infectious with the virus. So there's a lot of unknowns."
The international medical community has reacted quickly to the outbreak, but Dr Short said more study is needed to truly understand it.
"Already this has happened extremely quick when you think about the fact these cases were breaking out at the end of December,” she said.
“At the start of January, we now have identified the virus. We now have a sequence people can use to screen for the virus. Now to truly understand the virus what we need to do is test it in laboratories.”
The mysterious bug has been identified as being a coronavirus - like those which can cause the common cold as well as more clinically serious conditions, such as SARS.
Employees of Beijing Capital Taxi Co spray disinfectant over their traveling coaches in Beijing in 2003, amid the SARS outbreak. Source: AAP
SARS killed more than 700 people around the world during an outbreak that began in China in 2002.
Dr Keith Chappell, also from the University of Queensland, said the information available to Australian researchers did not suggest a SARS-like epidemic was imminent.
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"There's no evidence currently at all of human-to-human transmission. So there's no threat at all,” he said.
“What this highlights is two things: that these types of viruses can emerge, new viruses that we've never seen before. But also that you need to be wary of your interactions with wildlife. It's not known where this virus has come from, but there's speculation that it’s come from a bat because bats are known to carry the mostly closely-related viruses."
The Department of Health has confirmed no cases of the disease have been reported in Australia, but it would follow the situation closely in collaboration with the states and territories.
