WHO announces 2 new cases of MERS in Saudi Arabia
Iran Press TV
Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:55PM GMT
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced two new cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in Saudi Arabia.
In a Tuesday statement, the WHO issued said it had been informed of two laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV in the kingdom.
The statement stated the two patients included a 51 year-old woman from Saudi Arabia's Jawf province and a 26 year-old woman who is a non-Saudi healthcare worker in the capital Riyadh.
Referring to the non-Saudi healthcare worker, the statement noted that "She is asymptomatic. She had reported contact with a 37 year-old male laboratory confirmed case that was reported to WHO on 21 November 2013."
According to the statement, the number of confirmed infections throughout the globe stood at 165, of which 71 have died.
MERS-CoV is a cousin of SARS. The virus first emerged in the Middle East, and was discovered on September 2012 in a Qatari man who had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia.
Similar cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, Germany, France, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom. Health officials say the virus is likely to have already spread between people in some circumstances.
On November 19, Qatar's Supreme Council of Health said in a statement that a 61-year-old man died after contracting MERS, adding that the man also suffered from underlying "chronic illnesses."
The statement also said that another man, 48, was discharged from hospital following a three-week treatment for the coronavirus.
In early November, Spain's Health Ministry said a woman was diagnosed with the MERS-CoV.
The ministry added that this was the first case of the MERS-CoV infection to have been reported in the European country.
The woman was infected with the deadly coronavirus after returning from a visit to Saudi Arabia, it said.
MERS-CoV is most closely related to a bat virus. Scientists are considering whether bats or other animals like goats or camels are a possible source of infection.
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