Still, preliminary genetic analysis shows that the virus strains isolated from patients in California are identical to those seen in severely ill Mexican patients.

CNN: Commentary: Flu shouldn't close Mexico border

Elsewhere in laboratories, samples of the virus arrive in FedEx and World Courier packages for analysis, triple packaged to avoid leaking.

CNN: At CDC, war against flu doesn't stop

At CNN's request, Othman forwarded that virus to an IT security expert in California for an independent analysis.

CNN: Computer spyware is newest weapon in Syrian conflict

Bats may be the source of a new Sars-like virus which killed a man in Saudi Arabia, according to an analysis of the coronavirus' genome.

BBC: New coronavirus: May be 'bat bug'

The second virus, backdoor.breut, which was e-mailed to him by an activist inside Syria for analysis, launched the same way.

CNN: Computer spyware is newest weapon in Syrian conflict