MERS - Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

waltky · May 24, 2013

A new pneumonia-like virus...

WHO: Scientific red tape mars efforts vs. virus
May 23,`13 -- International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday.

Dr. Margaret Chan, in a blunt warning to the U.N. agency's annual global assembly, portrayed a previously little-known flap over who owns a sample of the virus as a global game-changer that could put people's lives at risk. The virus, which first emerged in Saudi Arabia where most cases have arisen, is called MERS for Middle East respiratory syndrome. "Please, I'm very strong on this point, and I want you to excuse me," she said. "Tell your scientists in your country, because you're the boss. You're the national authority. Why would your scientists send specimens out to other laboratories on a bilateral manner and allow other people to take intellectual property rights on a new disease?"

The controversy stems from a sample taken by Saudi microbiologist Ali Mohamed Zaki that he mailed last year to virologist Ron Fouchier at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. Fouchier tested, sequenced and identified it last September as a new virus. Then his private medical center patented how it synthesized the germ and required other researchers who wanted samples to first sign an agreement that could trigger a payment. Saudi Arabia, which had the first case, said the patenting delayed its development of diagnostic kits and blood tests. "There was a lag of three months where we were not aware of the discovery of the virus," Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish told the Geneva assembly. He said the sample was sent to the Dutch lab without official permission.

So far there is no blood test for detecting infection in communities. Memish said that patients need to be isolated because in some cases, diarrhea or vomiting may help spread the germ. Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health security, said his agency also has been "struggling with diagnostics" because of property rights concerns and ill-defined international rules for sharing such materials. Chan railed against any arrangement that could prevent rapid sharing of information or that would enable individual scientists or private labs to profit. WHO officials say the delays involve blood and other tests though a few other facilities in Canada, Britain and Germany have samples.

Fouchier, however, said the agreements between individual countries are similar to those within WHO's networks. "There are no restrictions to the use of the virus for research and public health purposes. There are only restrictions for commercial exploitation and forwarding virus to third parties," he wrote in an email, responding to questions from The Associated Press. Any delays claimed by WHO are a misconception, he said. "After the first identification of the virus, diagnostic tests were developed in collaboration with several public health laboratories, and these tests were distributed free of charge to everyone around the world who asked for them," Fouchier added. "We have not denied access to the virus to any research and public health laboratory with the appropriate facilities to handle this virus safely."

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waltky · May 28, 2013

Dealing with the ever-mutating strains of viruses...

New Tools to Hunt New Viruses
May 27, 2013 - A new flu, H7N9, has killed 36 people since it was first found in China two months ago. A new virus from the SARS family has killed 22 people since it was found on the Arabian Peninsula last summer.

In past years, this might have been occasion for panic. Yet chicken and pork sales have not plummeted, as they did during flus linked to swine and birds. Travel to Shanghai or Mecca has not been curtailed, nor have there been alarmist calls to close national borders. Is this relatively calm response in order? Or does the simultaneous emergence of two new diseases suggest something more dire?

Actually, experts say, the answer to both questions may well be yes. “We’ve done a great job globally in the last 10 years,” said Dr. William B. Karesh, a wildlife veterinarian and chief of health policy for the EcoHealth Alliance, which tracks animal-human outbreaks. “Compared to H5N1 and SARS, we’re getting on top of these diseases much, much faster.” But he added that “people have become desensitized over time — it’s ‘Oh, O.K., another one.’ ” And scientists say the world cannot afford to relax. The threat is real. New diseases are emerging faster than ever.

A man in Saudi Arabia wore a mask last week to protect against a virus that has killed 22 since it was found there last year.

Peter Daszak, a parasitologist and president of the EcoHealth Alliance, has even put a number on it: 5.3 new ones each year, based on a study using data from 1940 to 2004. He and his co-authors blamed population growth, deforestation, antibiotic overuse, factory farming, live animal markets, bush meat hunting, jet travel and other factors. Some aspects of the new viruses are scary. The Arabian coronavirus — now officially named MERS, for Middle East respiratory syndrome — has killed about half of those it infects, while SARS killed less than a quarter; in the lab, it replicates faster than SARS, penetrates lung cells more readily and inhibits the formation of proteins that warn the body that it is under attack.

In her closing remarks on Monday at the annual meeting of the world’s health ministers, Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said the virus was now her “greatest concern.” Until experts figure out where it hides and how it infects humans, “we are empty-handed when it comes to prevention,” she said. “These are alarm bells, and we must respond.” The H7N9 flu has been fatal in a quarter of known cases — the 1918 Spanish flu killed only 2 percent of its victims — and already has one dangerous mutation that helps it replicate at human body temperatures. Still, better surveillance means that such threats are being caught sooner, giving time to develop countermeasures like vaccines and making it far less likely that a virus like the 1918 flu will ever again kill millions.

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French man dies of SARS-related respiratory virus
May 28,`13 -- A French patient infected with a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS died Tuesday of the disease, which has killed half the people known to be infected and alarmed global health officials.

The novel coronavirus is related to SARS, which killed some 800 people in a global epidemic in 2003. Dr. Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization, singled out the illness in a speech on Monday in Geneva.

"We understand too little about this virus when viewed against the magnitude of its potential threat," Chan said at the annual WHO meeting. "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."

WHO said in an update earlier this month that 20 of the 40 confirmed cases of the disease have ended in death. Most of those infected since the virus was identified last year had traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Pakistan. There also have been cases in Britain and Germany.

The ministry said the Frenchman, whose illness was identified May 8 after he returned from a visit to the United Arab Emirates, died Tuesday. His hospital roommate also tested positive for the illness. Meanwhile, the Saudi Health Ministry reported five new cases of the virus. All the patients were in their 70s or older.

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waltky · Jun 1, 2013

Granny says, "Dat's right - it's dat endtime plague inna Bible, we all gonna die...

Death Toll from SARS-Like Virus Rises to 30
May 31, 2013 The World Health Organization said the global death toll from a SARS-like virus has risen to 30, after three new deaths were reported in Saudi Arabia. Health experts are scrambling to understand the new virus.

World Health Organization spokesperson Gregory Hartl spoke to VOA from Geneva. He said, "As of today we have 50 confirmed cases of which unfortunately 30 have died. The most recent deaths occurred in Saudi Arabia, from where two-thirds of the cases have emerged. In all, eight countries that have been affected by the virus, including Tunisia, Jordan, Britain, and France, where earlier this week a 65-year-old man died of the virus - the first patient in France to die from the condition.

But Hartl emphasized that up until now the virus appears to have its routes in the Middle East. So far all the cases have a connection to the Arabian Peninsula," he said. "The initial cases in France and in the U.K. and in Tunisia all had a travel history associated with somewhere on the Arabian Peninsula and then once they got back to their home countries there was a very limited person-to-person transmission.

The virus has recently been given a new name, the Middle East Respiratory Symptom Coronavirus, or MERS for short. It is a cousin of SARS, another coronavirus, which emerged in Asia a decade ago and went on to kill around 800 people. Health experts say SARS, which was spread by respiratory droplets through coughing or sneezing, appears to have passed from person to person more easily than the new virus.

But speaking in Geneva on Monday the director-general of the WHO said MERS is a "threat to the entire world". Hartl said of major concern right now is how little is known about the virus. We need to figure out how and where humans get infected in order to be able to control it," he said. "And we also need to work to develop medical means of treating the disease in terms of vaccines or anti-virals, which we do not have at the moment. The source of MERS is yet unknown. But the World Health Organizations said it appears to have originated in bats. It said a single variant from bats may have crossed over to another, intermediate animal before subsequently infecting humans.

http://www.voanews.com/content/who-three-more-deaths-from-new-sars-like-virus/1672145.html
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waltky · Jun 7, 2013

Granny says if Obama gets it, it could be the end o' the world...

U.S. Says Deadly MERS Virus Could Affect Natl Security
June 6, 2013 As Saudi and U.N. health authorities report new infections from a troubling new respiratory disease, there are concerns that the approaching Hajj the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca could increase the risk of spreading the virus as pilgrims return to their home countries.

Meanwhile the U.S. government, in a notice published in the Federal Register Wednesday, declared that the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV, or simply MERS) could potentially affect national security or the health and security of United States citizens living abroad. Saudi Arabia is currently the undisputed center of the scare. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the majority of the 55 confirmed MERS cases 40 infections, 24 deaths have occurred in the kingdom, while two deaths each have been reported in Britain and Jordan and one death each in France and the United Arab Emirates. (The fatalities in Europe were linked to visits to the Middle East.) Infections also have been reported in Qatar, Tunisia and Italy.

The notice published in the Federal Register Wednesday said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has determined that there is a significant potential for a public health emergency that has a significant potential to affect national security or the health and security of United States citizens living abroad. That determination in turn allows the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bypass standard processes and fast-track approval for products or drugs in relation to MERS, on the basis of an emergency use application (EUA). The FDA may under the prescribed circumstances issue an EUA authorizing (1) the emergency use of an unapproved drug, an unapproved or uncleared device, or an unlicensed biological product; or (2) an unapproved use of an approved drug, approved or cleared device, or licensed biological product, the notice says.

Saudi Arabia says more than two million Muslims including roughly 20,000 from the United States visit Mecca for the Hajj, which brings large numbers of people into close proximity in a confined geographical area over a five-day period. This years pilgrimage falls in mid-October. As of Wednesday, the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) said it was not advising any special screening at points of entry as a result of the outbreak, nor does it currently recommend the application of any travel or trade restrictions. Updated guidelines for Hajj pilgrims, issued by the Saudi Embassy in Washington, make no mention of MERS in a section on health issues and vaccination requirements. Vaccinations that are required for adults include those for meningitis, seasonal flu, and the H1N1 flu virus. The guidelines do include an unspecific warning: Health experts advise the following groups to postpone their plans for Hajj and Umrah this year for their own safety: The elderly, the terminally ill, pregnant women, and children. (The Umrah is a secondary type of pilgrimage to Mecca, one that can be taken any time of the year.)

In its health guidelines related to MERS, the Saudi health ministry has one reference to the pilgrimage, advising the wearing of face masks in the overcrowded places during Hajj or Umrah. A Malaysian study published in the Journal of Travel Medicine in 2010 found that more than 60 percent of Malaysian pilgrims developed respiratory systems, including coughs, sore throats and fever, during the 2007 Hajj. A French study, published in the same journal and examining French pilgrims at the 2009 Hajj, found that although almost 80 percent reported having worn face masks, their use did not significantly reduce respiratory symptoms. The most recent fatality reported to WHO by Saudi health authorities is that of a 14 year-old girl. It was noted that she is not from an area in the east of the kingdom called Al-Ahsa, where a cluster of cases at one hospital since April accounted for 22 infections and 10 deaths. According to the CDC, there have been no reports of anyone in the U.S. becoming infected with the virus, whose symptoms can include cause coughing, fever and pneumonia.

Alarming
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waltky · Jun 11, 2013

Granny says, "Dat's right - it's dat Biblical plague in Revelation - we all gonna die...

WHO: New Virus Has Pandemic Potential
June 10, 2013 > The World Health Organization is asking health workers around the world to be on alert for symptoms of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.

Monday's warning came as WHO officials ended a six-day investigation in Saudi Arabia, where 40 of the 55 cases of the respiratory disease have occurred. Sixty percent of those people with known infections died.

The United Nations agency is concerned that the MERS virus might spread among pilgrims expected to visit holy sites in Saudi Arabia next month during Ramadan, or the millions more expected in October for the annual Hajj to Mecca.

Officials are also worried that guest workers in the kingdom could carry the virus home to other countries, possibly causing a global pandemic.

Travelers have carried the virus to Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Infected people have also been found in Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

http://www.voanews.com/content/who-new-virus-has-pandemic-potential/1679189.html
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WHO: MERS Coronavirus Has Potential to Cause Pandemic
June 10, 2013 The World Health Organization on Monday urged health workers around the world to be on the alert for symptoms of the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS), which has the potential to circle the globe and cause a pandemic.

The United Nations agency, which issued new, long-awaited guidance to countries on influenza pandemics, said the world was also in the same alert phase for two human strains of bird flu - H5N1, which emerged a decade ago, and H7N9, first detected in China in March. We are trying to find out as much as we can and we are concerned about these (three) viruses, Andrew Harper, WHO special adviser for health security and environment, told a news briefing on its new scale for pandemic risk. The interim guidance, to be finalized later this year, incorporates lessons from the 2009/2010 pandemic of H1N1 swine flu, which caused an estimated 200,000 deaths, roughly in line with annual seasonal flu.

Having been adjusted to include the notion of severity when assessing risk, the new scale has just four phases against six previously and is intended to give countries more flexibility in judging local risks. International concern about these infections is high, because it is possible for this virus to move around the world. There have been now several examples where the virus has moved from one country to another through travelers, the WHO said of MERS, which causes coughing, fever and pneumonia.

Travelers have carried the virus to Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Infected people have also been found in Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. Consequently, all countries in the world need to ensure that their healthcare workers are aware of the virus and the disease it can cause and that, when unexplained cases of pneumonia are identified, MERS-CoV should be considered.

MERS-coronavirus, a distant relative of SARS that emerged in Saudi Arabia last year, has been confirmed in 55 people worldwide, killing 31 of them. Forty cases occurred in Saudi Arabia, many in a hospital in the eastern province of al-Ahsa. The overall number of cases is limited but the virus causes death in about 60 percent of patients, the WHO said, reporting on a week-long mission of international experts to Saudi Arabia that ended on Sunday. So far, about 75 percent of the cases in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have been in men and most have occurred in people with one or more major chronic conditions.

But the source of the MERS virus remained unknown, it said. Clusters of cases have occurred in families and health facilities, indicating a limited capacity to spread among people in close contact with an infected person, it said. All countries in the Middle East should urgently intensify disease surveillance to detect any MERS infections, it said. The WHO has not yet drawn up advice for travelers ahead of the annual haj pilgrimage in October, which draws millions of Muslims to Saudi Arabia.

http://www.voanews.com/content/mers-virus-world-health-organization/1679112.html
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waltky · Jul 19, 2013

Granny says, "Dat's right - it's the end o' the world...

Six New MERS Coronavirus Cases Reported
July 18, 2013 Health authorities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have reported six new cases of the SARS-like coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

The latest infections of four women and two men aged between 26 and 42 bring the global total to 88 cases, including 45 deaths, the United Nations agency said in a statement. Five of the six new cases were health workers and the other was a man who came in close contact with someone who had been infected with the disease, which is known as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS, WHO said.

Millions are expected to travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in October for the haj pilgrimage. Saudi authorities have cut the number of visas this year, citing safety concerns over expansion work at the main mosque site. The WHO is drawing up advice on travel in relation to coronavirus, to be issued in coming days. It urged health care providers to be vigilant for severe acute respiratory infections and test any recent travelers from the Middle East suffering from such infections for MERS.

The global health body has set up an emergency committee of independent experts on MERS, who said on Wednesday it was not a public health emergency of international concern for the time being. The committee can make recommendations on travel and trade restrictions, increased disease surveillance and exchange of data.

Two of the new coronavirus cases in Abu Dhabi and both cases in Saudi Arabia displayed mild symptoms. The other two in Abu Dhabi had no symptoms of the disease. Cases have also been found in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Britain, France, Italy and Germany.

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waltky · Jul 25, 2013

Granny says make `em get tested - we don't want `em bringin' it here...

Coronavirus: Polls Show Support for MERS Travel Screening
July 24, 2013 Little is known about a SARS-like virus that has infected people in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, but there is strong support around the globe for screening travelers to prevent the spread of the disease, according to a new poll.

An Ipsos online survey of more than 19,000 people in 24 countries showed that fewer than half of people questioned knew much about the disease known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, or MERS, which has infected 88 people and killed 45 people. Although awareness is low, most people said they are concerned about how prepared their nations are and would alter travel plans to avoid countries where cases have been reported. "The two important things about this research are that it (MERS) is not at a level yet where it is on a lot of people's radar screens," said John Wright, a senior vice president at the global polling company Ipsos. "The world isn't panicking over this," he added in an interview, "but they want to know that officials are taking steps to deal with it."

More than 80 percent of people questioned in developed countries said inbound travelers from countries with cases of MERS should be screened for the illness. The number rose to 90 percent in less industrialized countries. Support was highest in China, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, where the illness has been reported, and Italy, which has also been affected, as well as in Australia, Canada and Argentina. Awareness about how to prevent infection was also low in many countries.

Last week the World Health Organization (WHO) reported six new cases of MERS in United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, including five health workers and one person who had been in contact with an infected person. The illness, which can cause fever, coughing and pneumonia, has also surfaced in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Britain, France, and Germany. Travel was also a big concern with the majority of people questioned in the poll saying they would cancel or delay travel to a country affected by the illness.

The WHO has said the illness has not reached the level of a pandemic and may just die out. So far it has not recommended restrictions on travel. The global health organization said it is drawing up advice on travel in relation to coronavirus. "Clearly travel is going to be affected the most as a priority for people to look into," said Wright. Ipsos conducted the poll from June 4 to 18, questioning about 500 or 1,000 people in each country. A poll of 1,000 is accurate of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points and one of 500 to plus or minus 5.0.

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waltky · Jul 26, 2013

Slower but deadlier...

MERS virus may be deadlier than SARS, study finds
July 26, 2013 > The new respiratory virus that emerged in the Middle East last year appears to make people sicker faster than SARS, but doesn't seem to spread as easily, according to the latest detailed look at about four dozen cases in Saudi Arabia.

Since last September, the World Health Organization has confirmed 90 cases of MERS, the Middle East respiratory syndrome, including 45 deaths. Most cases have been in Saudi Arabia, but the mysterious virus has also been identified in countries including Jordan, Qatar, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Tunisia. MERS is related to SARS and the two diseases have similar symptoms including a fever, cough and muscle pain. "At the moment, the virus is still confined (to the Middle East)," said Dr. Christian Drosten of the University of Bonn Medical Centre in Germany, who wrote an accompanying commentary. "But this is a coronavirus and we know coronaviruses are able to cause pandemics."

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that mostly cause respiratory infections like the common cold, but it also includes SARS, the virus that killed about 800 people in a 2003 global outbreak. MERS is distantly related to SARS but there are major differences between the two. Unlike SARS, MERS can cause rapid kidney failure and doesn't seem as infectious. Drosten said the upcoming hajj in October -- where millions of Muslim pilgrims will visit Saudi Arabia, where the virus is still spreading -- is worrisome. On Thursday, WHO said in a statement that the risk of an individual traveler to Mecca catching MERS was considered "very low." The agency does not recommend any travel or trade restrictions or entry screening for the hajj.

In the latest study, researchers found 42 of the 47 cases in Saudi Arabia needed intensive care. Of those, 34 patients deteriorated so badly within a week they needed a breathing machine. That was up to five days earlier than was the case with SARS. Most of the MERS cases were in older men with underlying health problems, as one of the biggest outbreaks was among dialysis patients at several hospitals. The research was published Friday in the journal, Lancet Infectious Diseases. Ali Zumla, one of the paper's co-authors and a professor of infectious diseases at University College London, said in an email that the rapid deterioration of patients was "not worrying at all since the numbers are small" and most of the patients had other health problems.

Drosten, however, said that could be bad news. "That could mean the virus is more virulent and that (doctors) have a smaller window of opportunity to intervene and treat patients," he said. Detecting MERS fast could be a problem since quick diagnostic tests aren't available. Last week, WHO declared there was not yet enough evidence to classify MERS as a public health emergency after setting up an emergency committee to keep a closer eye on the virus. Zumla said it was "very unlikely" that MERS would ignite a pandemic. He noted officials were increasingly picking up mild cases of the disease, suggesting reported cases were only the tip of the iceberg. Identifying more mild or asymptomatic cases could indicate the virus is more widespread, but it's unclear if those infected people might be able to spread the disease further.

MERS also appears to be mainly affecting men; nearly 80 percent of the cases in the new study were men. Drosten said there might be a cultural explanation for that. "Women in the (Middle East) region tend to have their mouths covered with at least two layers of cloth," he said, referring to the veils worn by women in Saudi Arabia. "If the coronavirus is being spread by droplets, (the veils) should give women some protection." Scientists still haven't pinpointed the source of MERS and theories have ranged from animals like goats and camels to dates infected with bat excrement. WHO says the virus is capable of spreading between people but how exactly how that happens -- via coughing, sneezing or indirect physical contact -- isn't known.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/...rs-study-finds/?test=latestnews#ixzz2aAnwR500
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waltky · Aug 9, 2013

Granny says dat's just like it says in Zech. 14.15 inna Bible...

Mers coronavirus: Dromedary camels could be source
8 August 2013 > Dromedary camels could be responsible for passing to humans the deadly Mers coronavirus that emerged last year, research suggests.

Tests have shown the Mers (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) virus, or one that is very closely related, has been circulating in the animals, offering a potential route for the spread. The study is published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases. But the scientists say more research is needed to confirm the findings. The Mers coronavirus first emerged in the Middle East last year. So far, there have been 94 confirmed cases and 46 deaths. While there has been evidence of the virus spreading between humans, most case are thought to have been caused by contact with an animal. But until now, scientists have struggled to work out which one.

'Smoking gun'

To investigate, an international team looked at blood samples taken from livestock animals, including camels, sheep, goats and cows, from a number of different countries. They tested them for antibodies - the proteins produced to fight infections - which can remain in the blood long after a virus has gone. Professor Marion Koopmans, from the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment and Erasmus University in The Netherlands, said: "We did find antibodies that we think are specific for the Mers coronavirus or a virus that looks very similar to the Mers coronavirus in dromedary camels."

Researchers say further investigation is needed

The team found low levels of antibodies in 15 out of 105 camels from the Canary Islands and high levels in each of the 50 camels tested in Oman, suggesting the virus was circulating more recently. "Antibodies point to exposure at some time in the life of those animals," Prof Koopmans explained. No human cases of the Mers virus have been reported in Oman or the Canary Islands, and the researchers say they now need to test more widely to see if the infection is present elsewhere. This would include taking samples from camels in Saudi Arabia, the country where the virus is the most prevalent.

'Priority search'

Prof Koopmans said: "It is a smoking gun, but it is not definitive proof." Commenting on the research, Professor Paul Kellam from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge and University College London, said the research was helping to narrow down the hunt for the source of the virus. But he told BBC News: "The definitive proof would be to isolate the virus from an infected animal or to be able to sequence and characterise the genome from an infected animal." Health officials say confirming where the virus comes from is a priority. Data suggests that it is not yet infectious enough to pose a global threat and is still at a stage were its spread could be halted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23621113
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waltky · Apr 28, 2014

Granny says, "Dat's right - is dat plague inna Bible - we all gonna die...

Saudi Death Toll from MERS Virus Climbs to 102
April 27, 2014 ~ Saudi authorities confirm 10 more deaths from the mysterious MERS virus, putting the death toll since the disease first surfaced at 102.

Eight deaths were reported Sunday after two on Saturday. The nation's health ministry says there are now 339 confirmed cases of MERS since it was first found in Saudi Arabia two years ago. One case also has been confirmed in Egypt, in a man who recently traveled to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi pharmacists report a run on masks, hand sanitizers and other disinfectants. Some parents are keeping their children home from school. Three hospitals in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam have been designated as special MERS treatment centers.

MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, is related to the SARS virus, which has killed more than 800 people worldwide. But experts know little about MERS and there is no known vaccine. They are unsure how the virus is transmitted, but believe it may have originated in camels.

http://www.voanews.com/content/saudi-death-toll-from-mers-virus-climbs-to-102/1902342.html
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Cdnpoli · Apr 28, 2014

Sorry granny but your end times bible nonsense is annoying

waltky · May 3, 2014

MERS cases almost double in Saudi Arabia...

Saudi Arabia Finds 26 More Cases of MERS, Egypt Reports First Sufferer
May 01, 2014 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. The new cases have taken the total number of confirmed infections in Saudi Arabia to 371, a jump of 89 percent during the month of April. Most of the new infections last month came in an outbreak in three hospitals in Jeddah. Of people who caught the disease in Saudi Arabia, 107 have died since it was identified two years ago.

But health experts believe the initial source of transmission was from an animal reservoir, probably camels. On Tuesday, acting health minister Adel Fakeih said Saudis should avoid close contact with camels or consuming their raw milk or meat. Traders and other people at Riyadh's camel market on Monday told Reuters they had not been officially notified or warned about the likely connection between MERS and camels and had been taking no extra precautions such as increased hand washing. The WHO said last week it was advisable to be careful around camels, and international infection experts have been pointing to the link between the animals and the disease for months.

Although Saudi Arabia and the WHO have advised very old people, children and those suffering long-term disease to delay their haj this year because of MERS, they have stopped short of imposing other restrictions such as on visa numbers. Countries including Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Tunisia as well as several countries in Europe have reported MERS cases since the virus emerged. The World Health Organization announced the Egyptian case on its website, saying it was the first laboratory-confirmed case of MERS reported by authorities there. It said the 27-year-old man was in stable condition.

Saudi Arabia Finds 26 More Cases of MERS, Egypt Reports First Sufferer
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US Confirms First MERS Case
May 02, 2014 ~ The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has confirmed the first case of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Virus, or MERS, within the United States.

CDC officials Friday said an American health care worker who recently traveled to Saudi Arabia has been hospitalized with the virus in the midwestern state of Indiana. They say the patient has been isolated and is in stable condition. National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases director Anne Schuchat said the case is rapidly evolving, and that the CDC is working to identify people who may have been in contact with the patient. Schuchat said the patient traveled from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on April 24 to London, and then on to Indiana.

The MERS virus first appeared in September 2012, and all of the cases have been linked to six countries in the Arabian peninsula. Saudi Arabia has seen the most cases. Schuchat said around 400 people have tested positive for the disease since it first appeared, and that about one-third of those people have died from the virus.

MERS is a member of the coronavirus family, which includes germs that cause the common cold, as well as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. SARS popped up in southern China in 2003, infected about 8,000 people in 29 countries and killed about 800 before it was contained.

A spike in MERS cases in Saudi Arabia that began last week has raised worries among health experts that the virus has mutated into a more spreadable form. Schuchat said the reason for the increase is not yet known. It is not yet clear where MERS came from originally, but camels are the lead suspects.

http://www.voanews.com/content/us-confirms-first-case-of-mers-virus/1906555.html
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waltky · May 21, 2014

Globe-trotting healthcare workers could spread MERS...

Foreign Doctors, Nurses in Saudi Arabia Could Take MERS Global
May 18, 2014 The biggest risk that Middle East Respiratory Syndrome will become a global epidemic, ironically, may lie with globe-trotting healthcare workers.

From Houston to Manila, doctors and nurses are recruited for lucrative postings in Saudi Arabia, where MERS was first identified in 2012. Because the kingdom has stepped up hiring of foreign healthcare professionals in the last few years, disease experts said, there is a good chance the MERS virus will hitch a ride on workers as they return home. This is how MERS might spread around the world, said infectious disease expert Dr Amesh Adalja of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. It can take five to 14 days for someone infected with MERS to show symptoms, more than enough time for a contagious person to fly to the other side of the world without being detectable.

Muslim pilgrims wears surgical masks to help prevent infection from a respiratory virus known as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Healthcare workers are at extremely high risk of contracting MERS compared to the general public, Adalja said. The threat has attracted new attention with the confirmation of the first two MERS cases in the United States. Both are healthcare workers who fell ill shortly after leaving their work in Saudi hospitals and boarding planes bound west. About one-third of the MERS cases treated in hospitals in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah were healthcare workers, according to the World Health Organization. Despite the risk, few of the healthcare workers now in, or planning to go to, Saudi Arabia are having second thoughts about working there, according to nurses, doctors and recruiters interviewed by Reuters.

Michelle Tatro, 28, leaves next week for the kingdom, where she will work as an open-heart-surgery nurse. Tatro, who typically does 13-week stints at hospitals around the United States, said her family had sent her articles about MERS, but she wasn't worried. I was so glad to get this job, she told Reuters. Travel is my number one passion. So far, international health authorities have not publicly expressed concern about the flow of expatriate medical workers to and from Saudi Arabia. There is not much public health authorities or border agents can do, said infectious disease expert Dr Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota. Sure, they can ask people, 'did you work in a healthcare facility in Saudi Arabia,' but if the answer is yes, then what?

Healthcare workers are best placed to understand the MERS risk, Osterholm said, and there should be a heightened awareness among them of possible MERS symptoms. Neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to questions about whether they were considering monitoring healthcare workers returning to the United States.

Soaring demand
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waltky · May 28, 2014

MERS spreads to Iran...

IRAN REPORTS ITS FIRST 2 CASES OF MERS VIRUS
May. 28, 2014 Iranian media say the country has recorded its first two cases of the potentially fatal Middle East respiratory virus, first reported in Saudi Arabia two years ago.

The kingdom has been the focal point of the outbreak of the virus, known as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

Iran's Hamshahri daily on Wednesday quoted health ministry official Mohammad Mahdi Gouya as saying the virus was confirmed in two sisters in Kerman in southeastern Iran. One was reported to be in critical condition. Gouya says there are also two other suspected cases, from the same family as the sisters.

About 600 people have had the illness and about 175 people have died. MERS belongs to the coronavirus family that includes the common cold and SARS, which caused some 800 deaths in 2003.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/iran-reports-its-first-2-cases-mers-virus
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waltky · Jun 3, 2014

Spike in number of Saudi MERS deaths...

Saudi MERS Data Review Reveals Spike in Number of Deaths
June 03, 2014 Saudi Arabia announced a jump of nearly 50 percent in deaths from a new virus on Tuesday after re-examining old data that also showed the number of infections since 2012 was a fifth higher than previously reported.

The increase in total confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [MERS] to 688 from 575, and the rise in deaths from the virus to 282 from 190, came in a review of data ordered by the Health Ministry last month. The sharp increase in deaths now attributed to MERS, which causes coughing, fever and pneumonia in some, means the mortality rate from the virus in Saudi Arabia is now 41 percent, instead of the 33 percent previously thought.

However, the ministry said that although the total number of historical cases had risen, the rate of infection in the most recent outbreak appeared to be slowing. Of the total, 53 patients were still being treated, while 353 had recovered, the statement said. While the review has resulted in higher total number of previously unreported cases, we still see a decline in the number of new cases reported over the past few weeks, Tariq Madani, head of the Health Ministry's scientific advisory board, was quoted as saying in an emailed statement.

A man with mask speaks on his mobile phone in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

New measure

The Health Ministry said it had put in place new measures to make sure better data gathering, reporting and transparency were being observed, including standardization of testing and better guidelines for labeling and storing samples. On Monday, acting health minister Adel Fakieh announced he had relieved deputy minister Ziad Memish from his post. Fakieh was appointed in April after King Abdullah sacked his predecessor Abdullah al-Rabeeah following a new MERS outbreak.

Saudi authorities, including Memish, had been criticized by some international scientists for their handling of the crisis, including what they saw as a lack of collaboration with specialist laboratories offering to help investigate the outbreak. Clearly any backward look will push the total numbers up but that does not signify any change in the virus, only previous under-reporting, said Ian Jones, a virologist at Britain's University of Reading. Infectious disease does not respect country, cultural or religious boundaries, so absolute clarity and the adoption of best practice for isolation and treatment are the most effective means of minimizing numbers until such time as the source and route of infection are identified and avoided, he added.

The Health Ministry said on Sunday it had set up a new command and control center to tackle MERS and any future public health crisis more effectively. The new center will work with the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, it said.

http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-...eveals-spike-in-number-of-deaths/1928789.html
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waltky · Oct 26, 2015

Granny says it's dem endtime plagues like in Revelation inna Bible...

MERS, Ebola, bird flu: Science's big missed opportunities
26 Oct.`15 - Anyone who goes down with flu in Europe this winter could be asked to enroll in a randomized clinical trial in which they will either be given a drug, which may or may not work, or standard advice to take bed rest and paracetamol.

Those who agree could be helping the world prepare for the next potentially deadly disease pandemic as well as helping scientists who are now desperate to plug gaps in knowledge left by previous missed opportunities. Scientists are largely in the dark about how to stop or treat the slew of never-seen-before global health problems of recent years, from the emergence of the deadly MERS virus in Saudi Arabia, to a new killer strain of bird flu in China and an unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Africa. They have been unable even to pin down where they came from. That is because vital studies to analyze transmission routes and test experimental drugs or vaccines have simply not been done during epidemics, disease experts say.

The gloved hands of an army nurse are seen during a demonstration of an isolation chamber for the treatment of infectious disease patients, at the Germany army medical centre, Bundeswehr Clinc, in Koblenz

It is a failure of science, they say, that should not be allowed to happen again. "Research in all of the epidemics we have faced over the past decade has been woeful," said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust global health foundation and an expert on infectious diseases. "The world is at risk because there are huge gaps in our knowledge base. "We don't now have a vaccine for SARS if it came back tomorrow; we don't know how to treat MERS; it took us six to nine months before we started clinical trials of vaccines for Ebola and in the meantime almost 12,000 people lost their lives; and during the H1N1 pandemic, the number of people randomized into clinical studies was very close to zero."

"BYZANTINE PROCESS"

A couple wearing masks to prevent contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) looks at each other as they ride on an escalator in Seoul, South Korea.

Bureaucracy, logistics and lack of forethought are the heart of the problem, according to Trudie Lang, professor of Global Health Research at Oxford University who has been working on ways to lower such barriers. During the Ebola outbreak that swept through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Lang's team, which specializes in planning and operating trials in vulnerable populations in difficult settings, was tasked with setting up a clinical study of a potential Ebola treatment called brincidofovir. "It normally takes 18 months to set up a trial, and we did it in 16 weeks," she told Reuters. "But the problem was we were still behind the curve."

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