Transmission electron micrograph of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.
Author : National Institutes of Health (NIH)Wikimedia . org
.....
VOANews
May 01, 2014 3:29 PM
RIYADH
— Saudi Arabia said on Thursday the total number of cases of Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), an often deadly new disease, had
nearly doubled in the kingdom in April with 26 more infections reported
on Tuesday and Wednesday.The first case of the disease in Egypt was
also reported on Thursday, in a 27-year-old man who lives in Saudi
Arabia but returned ill to Egypt last week after having been in contact
with an uncle in the kingdom who died of MERS.
International concern about the disease is acute because Saudi Arabia is expected to receive large numbers of foreign pilgrims during the fasting month of Ramadan in July, followed by millions more for Islam's annual haj pilgrimage in October.
Although the WHO has said the disease, from the same family as the SARS virus, is difficult to pass between humans, most of the cases reported in Saudi Arabia so far appear to have been transmitted between people rather than from animals.
A team of WHO experts has arrived in Saudi Arabia and is working with authorities on boosting infection control measures, particularly in hospitals, and studying how the virus spreads.
Seven of the new cases were in Jeddah, four in Mecca, 10 in Riyadh, two in the northern town of Tabuk and one each in Hafr al-Batin near Kuwait and Najran near Yemen. Two people, who had previously been confirmed as suffering from the disease, died.
International concern about the disease is acute because Saudi Arabia is expected to receive large numbers of foreign pilgrims during the fasting month of Ramadan in July, followed by millions more for Islam's annual haj pilgrimage in October.
Although the WHO has said the disease, from the same family as the SARS virus, is difficult to pass between humans, most of the cases reported in Saudi Arabia so far appear to have been transmitted between people rather than from animals.
A team of WHO experts has arrived in Saudi Arabia and is working with authorities on boosting infection control measures, particularly in hospitals, and studying how the virus spreads.
Seven of the new cases were in Jeddah, four in Mecca, 10 in Riyadh, two in the northern town of Tabuk and one each in Hafr al-Batin near Kuwait and Najran near Yemen. Two people, who had previously been confirmed as suffering from the disease, died.
Related articles
