MERS-CoV "Is a threat to entire world" says expert. Deaths being under reported and disease will be on American shores in DAYS!

Why MERS virus is so scary

By Laurie Garrett, Special to CNN

updated 12:56 PM EDT, Fri May 31, 2013

MERS-CoV is a coronavirus, like the one shown above, so-called because it looks like it's surrounded by a crown, or corona.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The head of WHO said MERS CoV virus found in Saudi Arabia threatens "the entire world"
• Laurie Garrett: It's alarming that of 49 cases, 27 -- that's 52% -- have died
• Garrett: The virus related to SARS, and scientists worry it could spread as fast
• MERS emerged in a difficult region, she says, and threatens Syrian refugees

Editor's note: Laurie Garrett is senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

(CNN) -- The head of the World Health Organization warned the world this week of a new virus, awkwardly dubbed MERS-CoV, found in Saudi Arabia.

"Looking at the overall global situation, my greatest concern right now is the novel coronavirus," Margaret Chan said, calling it "a threat to the entire world."

"We understand too little about this virus when viewed against the magnitude of its potential threat," the director general said in her closing speech to the 66th session of the World Health Assembly. "Any new disease that is emerging faster than our understanding is never under control.