One More MERS Virus Death in Jordan

One more man has died in Jordan after being infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, the kingdom's second fatality from the disease this year.

One more man has died in Jordan after being infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, the kingdom's second fatality from the disease this year and the fourth since 2012.

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 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.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) - Causes Symptoms Treatment Prevention
MERS, a newly discovered respiratory disease, was recently reported in the Arabian region. MERS is caused by a virus similar to that causing common cold and other respiratory illnesses.

Jordan reported the first death from MERS in February, after two fatalities in 2012.

"The new death from the coronavirus was one of those infected with the virus who was 56 years old who was suffering from anaemia and pneumonia, and who had been hospitalised," health ministry official Mohammad Abdallat was quoted as saying by state news agency Petra.

MERS emerged in 2012 and is mostly focused on Saudi Arabia, where it has killed 115 people, according to health officials there.

MERS Death Toll Reaches 115 in Saudi
The death toll from the MERS coronavirus has reached 115 since the respiratory disease first appeared in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012, Saudi health authorities announced Monday.

Saudi Arabia's number of MERS infections has also reached 414, the world's highest tally, the ministry reported.

There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments for MERS, a disease with a mortality rate of more than 40 percent that experts are still struggling to understand.

Jordan Records Two New MERS Infections: Health Ministry
The health ministry says that two new infections from MERS coronavirus have been detected in Jordan, one a Saudi man and the other a Jordanian medic who was treating him.

Some research has suggested that camels are a likely source of the virus.

Source-AFP

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Health officials in the United States revealed that MERS, which first surfaced in the Middle East, has arrived at the American shores.