Geneva: Three more people have been infected with MERS in Saudi Arabia. According to the World Health Organization, the information provided by the country’s Ministry of Health has revealed that one person has died.
Between April 10 and 17, three new cases of MERS, also known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, were confirmed in the country. The World Health Organization has published this on its official website the other day.
New MERS cases were reported in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. All the three confirmed cases are men between the ages of 56 and 60. All three had other health problems in the past. At the same time, the World Health Organization informs that none of the confirmed cases are health workers. The disease was transmitted in connection with a hospital in Riyadh. But investigations are still underway to find out how the first patient contracted the disease. Two new cases were detected when people who came in contact with the first confirmed case were tested.
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The three people who have been diagnosed with the disease are Saudi nationals. A 56-year-old teacher living in Riyadh came to a hospital in Riyadh on March 29 with fever, cough and cold. He was later transferred to the ward and admitted to the ICU days later with severe symptoms. Then MERS was confirmed when RTPCR test was done. He died on April 7 due to many other diseases.
A patient who was being treated there when the patient arrived at the hospital’s emergency department and another who was in the next bed when he was transferred to the ward were later diagnosed with the disease. None of the health workers who treated them were found to be infected. Although MERS is transmitted to humans from camels, the three confirmed cases had no direct contact with camels. Therefore, an investigation is underway to find out how the first patient contracted the disease.
With three new cases, the number of MERS cases reported in Saudi Arabia this year has risen to four. The 32-year-old, who was diagnosed in early January, is unrelated to the current patients. The patient, a native of Taif, was also found to have had direct contact with camels. This patient died in February.
The first MERS case was reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. So far 2,204 people have been diagnosed with the disease. 858 of them died. Currently, MERS has been reported in 27 countries. A total of 2613 people have been confirmed and 941 people have died in all countries. Saudi Arabia accounted for 84 percent of the cases and 91 percent of the deaths. No new MERS cases have been reported in countries outside the Middle East since 2019.
