text: Story highlights Of 53 known MERS-CoV infections worldwide, 30 have ended in death 
   
   Three Italian patients are first in their country to contract the virus 
   
   Symptoms are cold-like but are severe and can lead to pneumonia and kidney failure 
   
   The WHO calls the virus "a threat to the entire world" 
   
   The sometimes deadly MERS-CoV virus has spread to Italy, the World Health Organization said in statements this weekend. 
   
   Sunday's announcement that two female patients had contracted the virus follows one Saturday that said a 45-year-old man, who had recently traveled to Jordan, had become infected. They are the first three known cases in Italy. 
   
   Middle East respiratory symptom coronavirus, or MERS-CoV, acts like a cold virus and attacks the respiratory system, the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said. But symptoms, which include fever and a cough, are severe and can lead to pneumonia and kidney failure. 
   
   Of the 53 known infections with the virus, 30 have resulted in death since September 2012, the organization said. Precise data are not available on the total number of people who have been infected because it is difficult to tell how many get a mild form of the infection. 
   
   A patient died May 28 in France after having contracted the virus during a trip to the Middle East. 
   
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   The health agency said the three Italian patients were all in stable condition. The two cases reported Sunday were a 42-year-old woman and a 2-year-old girl who are close contacts of the man, the WHO said. 
   
   The virus is "a threat to the entire world," the WHO's general director said last week. 
   
   It "is not a problem that any single affected country can keep to itself or manage all by itself," Margaret Chan said Monday in her closing remarks at the 66th World Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. 
   
   Although many of the cases have occurred on the Arabian Peninsula, people have died of the infection elsewhere, including in four European countries and Tunisia. 
   
   However, "all of the European cases have had a direct or indirect connection to the Middle East," the WHO said earlier this month. But "in France and the United Kingdom, there has been limited local transmission among close contacts who had not been to the Middle East but had been in contact with a traveler recently returned from the Middle East." 
   
   Coronaviruses cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, as well as a variety of animal diseases. 
   
   Health officials do not yet know much about how the newly discovered virus spreads, which makes it hard for scientists to prevent infections, Chan said. 
   
   The WHO is calling for the world to pull together its resources to study and tackle the virus. ||||| Story highlights "These are alarm bells," said World Health Organization director-general 
   
   The WHO dubs the virus MERS-CoV 
   
   Patient with novel coronavirus dies of organ failure, French hospital reports 
   
   Half of those diagnosed with the virus have died, experts say 
   
   A new SARS-like virus recently found in humans is "a threat to the entire world," according to the director-general of the United Nations' World Health Organization. 
   
   The so-called novel coronavirus "is not a problem that any single affected country can keep to itself or manage all by itself," Margaret Chan said Monday in her closing remarks at the 66th World Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. 
   
   The world needs to pull together its resources to properly tackle the virus which, Chan said, is her "greatest concern" at present. 
   
   "We understand too little about this virus when viewed against the magnitude of its potential threat," she said, and more information is needed "quickly" and "urgently." 
   
   "We do not know where the virus hides in nature. We do not know how people are getting infected. Until we answer these questions, we are empty-handed when it comes to prevention. These are alarm bells. And we must respond," she said. 
   
   Novel coronavirus is part of a family called coronaviruses, which cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, as well as a variety of animal diseases. However, the new virus is not SARS. 
   
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   The virus had infected 44 people worldwide as of last week, most of them in the Middle East, according to the World Health Organization's most recent update Thursday. Half of them have died. 
   
   Also in its Thursday update, the WHO appeared to have given the novel coronavirus a name: Middle East respiratory symptom coronavirus, or MERS-CoV. 
   
   A 23rd death was reported Tuesday, when a French hospital and the French government reported a man diagnosed with the coronavirus had died of organ failure. 
   
   The patient, the first of two people to be diagnosed with novel coronavirus, died at University Hospital of Lille, where he had been treated since May 9. 
   
   The man contracted the virus while visiting the Arabian Peninsula, said Marisol Touraine, France's minister of social affairs and health, in a statement. 
   
   The second patient, also male, was in stable but very serious condition, the hospital said. One of the patients shared a room with the other and contracted the virus. 
   
   Joint WHO missions with Saudi Arabia and Tunisia will take place as soon as possible, with the goal of gathering the facts needed to conduct a risk assessment, Chan said Monday. 
   
   Earlier this month, the WHO said two health care workers in Saudi Arabia became ill while treating patients. 
   
   Novel coronavirus acts like a cold virus and attacks the respiratory system, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said. But symptoms, which include fever and a cough, are severe and can lead to pneumonia and kidney failure. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea have also been seen, according to the WHO. 
   
   It's not yet known how humans contract the virus, experts have said. Most of the cases so far have been seen in older men with other medical conditions; precise numbers are hard to come by, as officials don't know how many people might contract a mild form. 
   
   Cases have been identified in eight countries including France and Saudi Arabia, according to the WHO. Other European countries include Germany and the United Kingdom.
target: – MERS-CoV, the potentially deadly virus that spread from the Middle East to France last month, is now creeping further, with three cases reported in Italy this weekend. The patients, a 42-year-old woman, 45-year-old man, and 2-year-old girl, are said to be in stable condition. The man recently traveled to Jordan, and is reported to be a close contact of the two female patients, CNN reports. Of the 52 people known to be infected with the virus since September 2012, 30 have died. The virus is "a threat to the entire world," WHO General Director Margaret Chan told the World Health Assembly this week, reports CNN. "We understand too little about this virus when viewed against the magnitude of its potential threat," said Chan. "We do not know where the virus hides in nature. We do not know how people are getting infected. Until we answer these questions, we are empty-handed when it comes to prevention. These are alarm bells. And we must respond."