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Sars like virus claims 11th victim in Saudi

Riyadh, June 9, 2013

Saudi Arabia has notified the World Health Organisation (WHO) of an additional laboratory-confirmed fatal case of infection with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (Mers-CoV) thus taking the total to 31 cases.

An 83-year-old patient with underlying medical conditions, became ill on May 27 and died on May 31, said the WHO in its report. He was from Al-Ahsa, where an outbreak began in a health care facility in April.

From September 2012 to date, the organisation has been informed of a total of 55 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with Mers-CoV.

The laboratory-confirmed cases have originated from Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom.

Based on the current situation and available information, WHO has urged all member states to continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and to carefully review any unusual patterns.

They called upon the health officals to conduct virus tests on all recent travellers returning from the Middle East who develop SARI. Specimens from patients’ lower respiratory tracts should be obtained for diagnosis where possible, they added. - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Saudi | WHO | Virus |

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