MERS Toll Rises to 136 After Saudi Arabia Confirms Six New Cases

The World Health Organization revealed that the number of people who have been infected with the deadly MERS virus has increased to 136.

The World Health Organization revealed that the number of people who have been infected with the deadly MERS virus has increased to 136 after six new cases were confirmed by Saudi Arabia.

Glenn Thomas, spokesman for the UN health agency, said it had been informed by Saudi authorities that the virus had been detected in three men and three women in the capital Riyadh.

MERS Virus may Pose a Threat for Hospitals
A new study claimed that the deadly coronavirus may pose a threat in hospitals since it spreads quite rapidly and has a high mortality rate

The virus, which appeared first in the kingdom last year, has killed 58 people worldwide, 49 of them in Saudi Arabia, according to official Saudi figures and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

MERS stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, in a nod to the fact that the bulk of the cases have been in that region.

The fact that Saudi Arabia accounts for the overwhelming majority of cases and deaths has raised concerns about this month's annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest sites, which lie in the kingdom.

Study Says Camel may be MERS Virus Host
Arabian camel can be a possible host of the deadly human MERS virus plaguing the Middle East, say researchers.

The hajj is one of the largest gatherings in the world, and there are fears that pilgrims could carry the virus back to their homelands.

But Saudi authorities have said they are optimistic that the hajj will pass off without outbreaks, given that faithful Muslims undertake lower-level pilgrimages at other times and there has been no mass spread of MERS.

New Suspected Cases of SARS-like MERS Virus in France
French medical authorities reported two new suspected cases of infection with the SARS-like virus MERS which has killed more than 30 people globally, mostly in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has, however, urged the elderly and chronically ill to avoid the event.

Experts are struggling to understand MERS, for which there is still no vaccine.

It is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died, and sowed economic chaos.

Like SARS, MERS is believed to have jumped from animals to humans. It shares the former's flu-like symptoms, but differs by also causing kidney failure.

Source-AFP