The Health Ministry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia released a statement on Monday, which says that researchers have found the deadly Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus in a camel. According to the Ministry, this finding is an important step in the research of the virus, and most of all, the origin of human infection.
Latest data from the World Health Organization shows that from September 2012 to date, the number of MERS infections around the world has reached a total of 153, including 64 deaths. Most of the cases, as well as most of the deaths from the disease have been reported in Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Health has been working with WHO and international experts to find more about MERS, but so far, there is still little information on how it is spread or where it comes from. The SARS-related virus is also from the same family of viruses which cause the common cold. In August, an international research team discovered MERS in a batin Saudi Arabia, but it was unclear how humans could get infected directly from bats.
It was suspected that another animal which lives closer to the population could contract the disease. Camels were linked, but no clear connection was found until now. A camel owned by a person diagnosed with the virus was tested and found positive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This is an important clue, say experts, to figuring out if and how camels, which are commonly bred in the region for different purposes, are responsible for passing the disease to humans.
Meanwhile, the WHO was informed yesterday of two additional cases of MERS coronavirus in Saudi Arabia. The first patient is a 72-year-old man from Riyadh and the second patent is a 43-year-old man from Jeddah. Oman’s Health Ministry reported on Sunday the first death of MERS infection. The diseased is a 68-year-old man who felt sick and was hospitalized last month in a hospital in the town of Nizwa, southeast of Muscat. According to reports, he suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes, besides the deadly disease. Another Omani, a 75-year-old man was admitted in a hospital in Abu Dhabi last week.
Health officials in Spain announced the country’s first case of MERS coronavirus in a woman who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia. She visited the Middle Eastern kingdom last month for the traditional Hajj pilgrimage and felt sick while still being there.
Up to date, at least 127 cases of the infection have been detected in Saudi Arabia. Of them, 53 have died.
