| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| Saudis annouce two new deaths from MERS |
| 2013-07-03 |
| A Saudi man and a woman have died from the MERS virus, raising the death toll from the SARS-like infection in the kingdom to 36, the health ministry said on Wednesday. Three others infected with the same virus, two in Eastern Province and one in Riyadh, have been treated, the ministry said on its website. Like SARS, MERS appears to cause a lung infection, with patients suffering from fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. But it differs in that it also causes rapid kidney failure. Ramadan begins in about a week. The Hajj begins in mid Oct. While most of the cases have been concentrated in Saudi Arabia, the MERS virus has also spread to neighboring Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Cases have also been found in France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and Britain, although most of these patients had been transferred for care from the Middle East or had travelled to the Middle East and become ill after they returned, the World Health Organisation said. |
| Posted by:lord garth |
| #9 "Visit Mecca - it's to die for." |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-07-03 22:01 |
| #8 "Come for the hajj. Leave with a hacking cough and fever" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-07-03 21:22 |
| #7 It's believed there is an unknown animal vector between bats and people, but the only other mammal known to carry the virus are pigs and not many of them in SA. Also Arabs are not big on pets. A more likely scenario IMO, is a low virulence strain is widespread and just produces cold like symptoms. This strain occasionally mutates into a high virulence strain. Whether the high virulence strain can spread P2P is unknown. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2013-07-03 18:36 |
| #6 the 80% male infection stat may be based on the fact that males get out of the house more and are thus exposed to bat dung dust or whatever |
| Posted by: lord garth 2013-07-03 18:22 |
| #5 I dunno, Phil. Could be salivary-fluid transmission. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-07-03 17:38 |
| #4 80% of cases are male. Believed the veil protects women. Clear evidence of P2P aerial transmission for me. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2013-07-03 17:12 |
| #3 As long as they don't blame the Juice for it, we know it's not really serious. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-07-03 16:45 |
| #2 as has been pointed out previously in Rantburg, MERS kills its victims quickly thus limiting the transmission somewhat as to the P2P, the matter is in dispute |
| Posted by: lord garth 2013-07-03 16:39 |
| #1 Definitely transmitting P2P. Wikipedia page |
| Posted by: phil_b 2013-07-03 13:56 |