..Others share the WHO's concern. In fact, several of the researchers who were key players in the response to the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic admit the patterns they are seeing bring back memories.

"It is certainly beginning to look concerning, given the obvious fact that there can be onward transmission," says Malik Peiris, chair of the department of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong.

"It is somewhat reminiscent of the emergence of SARS in 2002."

Ron Fouchier, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, also sees those similarities.

And Fouchier is concerned about how many infections may be going unnoticed, untested or unreported. He notes that several of the 12 confirmed cases were diagnosed in European hospitals.

In addition to the current family cluster in Britain, one case from Qatar was diagnosed in Britain in September and a second from Qatar was diagnosed in Germany in October. Both men got sick in Qatar but left the country for treatment — a practice which is not uncommon for wealthy residents of Middle Eastern countries.

"The fact that we are finding these cases in Europe and not anywhere else, that has to raise suspicion," Fouchier



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