Thanks to Bruce Weaver for sending the link to this February 19 report from Mirror Online.co.uk: Coronavirus: First British victim of Sars-like virus dies in Birmingham. Apart from the "SARS-like" headline, it also deliver the story in the tabloid style that many, unfortunately, get with their scientific and medical news. Excerpt, with tabloidese terms bolded:
More than 100 people have now been tested for the new Sars-like virus as it was revealed today that a man has become the first Briton to be killed by the illness.
The victim, 39, is thought to have caught the respiratory illness from his dad who is believed to have brought it back to the UK after picking it up during recent travels to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
The dad is still being treated in a Manchester hospital.
A third family member has also been struck down with novel coronavirus but has recovered well enough to be cared for at home in the West Midlands.
Bosses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham said that the 39-year-old victim – who has not been named by officials – died in the critical care unit on Sunday morning.
He had a weakened immune system and was already being treated for an unrelated condition which experts say left him much more vulnerable to the infection.
There are now known to be four confirmed cases in Britain.
The term "struck down" appears three times in the full story. See also this February 20 report, which doesn't even bother with "like" in the headline.
In fairness, the content of the reports seems factually fairly accurate. But the style amounts to a kind of spin.
