Saudi Arabia Sars-like virus 'kills five'

[jaypee10]

delikado nanaman mga kababayan natin dyan..

baka maka pasok din dito sa atin..

[Monseratto]

Anyone watched the movie "Contagion"...?

SARS-Like Virus Kills 2 More in Saudi Arabia - WSJ.com

Updated May 6, 2013, 3:42 a.m. ET
SARS-Like Virus Kills 2 More in Saudi Arabia

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER in Riyadh And BETSY MCKAY in Atlanta

RIYADH—Saudi Arabia announced two more deaths overnight Monday in the latest outbreak of a SARS-like virus currently centered on a small hospital in the kingdom's east, bringing the toll reported by the government at the health center since Wednesday to seven dead and another six who have fallen ill.

The latest deaths, a 62-year-old woman and a 71-year-old man, heightened worries in Saudi Arabia and abroad that the outbreak of an apparently Middle East-based disease known as the novel coronavirus could be escalating.

The surge of fatalities brings confirmed deaths in the yearold outbreak to 18 and overall cases to 30. It has heightened concern from ordinary Saudis and international medical officials that the kingdom is not disclosing enough information on the outbreak to help limit and stop the spread. Most of the cases reported have been in Saudi Arabia.

The 13 cases linked to one Saudi hospital suggest the spread of this coronavirus may have reached a dangerous new stage in which it is spreading from one human to another, rather than infecting humans from another source such as an infected animal, according to infectious disease experts.

The virus has spread quickly: 13 people were infected between April 14 and May 1, nearly half of the 30 total cases that have been reported to the World Health Organization. Of those 30 cases, 18 have died, giving the disease a case fatality rate similar to that of the feared H5N1 avian flu.

Saudi Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish announced the two new deaths, and another case of a patient in critical condition with coronavirus, in an email published late Sunday on the international Promed medical website.

"Transmission seems linked to one (health-care facility)" in the city of Hofuf, in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, Dr. Memish said in the brief email. It stated that no community transmission appeared likely in the latest outbreak, but did not clarify or elaborate further on the cases.

At the health ministry, staffers said neither Dr. Memish nor other health officials would be available to speak Monday about the outbreak.

According to the World Health Organization, the coronavirus—which is related to the SARS virus that struck Asia a decade ago—first appeared in a "health-care setting" in April 2012 in Jordan, where it killed two people. More cases since have been confirmed in Saudi Arabia, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

[chua_riwap]

malamang kumalat yan.
langya, mga saudis pa naman dugyot sa katawan.

tamad maligo!

[Monseratto]

50 deaths later and the first confirmed OFW victim...

A Pinay nurse in Saudi Arabia died of corona virus, the first Filipino who died of the illness - DFA

[Retz]

ingat kayo dyan mga sadiq.

[Monseratto]

Kawawa, bigla lang namatay, at di na informed yung love ones when she was seriouly ill...

DFA confirms first Pinoy coronavirus death in Saudi | Pinoy Abroad | GMA News Online

DFA confirms first Pinoy coronavirus death in Saudi
By MICHAELA DEL CALLARSeptember 17, 2013 5:48pm


A 41-year-old female Filipino nurse died of MERS coronavirus in Saudi Arabia last month, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Tuesday.

The Filipino, whose identity was not disclosed, is the first reported fatality from the Philippines. She died at a hospital in Riyadh last August 29.

A medical report obtained by the Philippine Embassy says the deceased “tested positive for the coronavirus before her death,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told a press briefing.

The hospital’s VIP ward supervisor said prior to her death, the Filipina went to the United States for a vacation on July 13. She returned to Riyadh on July 19 and reported for work on July 21.

In mid-August, she complained of fever and coughing and developed respiratory distress. She was put on a ventilator on Aug. 22.

Two days later, she was diagnosed with severe pneumonia and had to be transferred to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

“The hospital’s Deputy Director of Medical Administration said that the remains of the deceased overseas Filipino worker does not pose a public risk for as long as it is placed inside an impermeable body bag,” Hernandez said.

“Her family has already been informed of her demise and we are awaiting the Department of Health’s guidance regarding the repatriation of her remains,” he added.

Hernandez said another Filipina is currently confined at the same hospital after testing positive for Coronavirus. “She is now recovering,” he said.

The patient was brought by her employer to the hospital for dialysis and was infected during her confinement, Hernandez said.

Filipinos in affected countries are advised to follow the measures being taken by local health authorities to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

“They should also immediately seek medical attention if they feel any of the disease’s symptoms,” Hernandez said.

Symptoms of coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization, include fever, cough, shortness of breath and even diarrhea.

Saudi Arabia, home to at least 1 million Filipino workers, has been most affected by the virus, which is fast spreading throughout the Middle East and has spilled over to some countries in Europe like Germany, Britain and France. — KBK, GMA News

[Monseratto]

Saudi Arabia announces jump in new cases of deadly MERS virus | News | GMA News Online

Saudi Arabia announces jump in new cases of deadly MERS virus
By ANGUS MCDOWALL, ReutersApril 21, 2014 12:49am

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia confirmed 20 new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Saturday and Sunday, adding up to 49 infections in six days, a sudden increase of a disease that kills about a third of the people infected and has no cure.

MERS, a SARS-like novel coronavirus that emerged in Saudi Arabia two years ago, has infected 244 people in the kingdom, of whom 76 have died, the Health Ministry said on its website.

However, Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia on Sunday told reporters there was no scientific evidence yet to justify ordering additional preventative measures such as travel restrictions.

He said he did not know why there had been a surge of cases in Jeddah but said it might be part of a seasonal pattern since there was also a big rise in infections last April and May.

Another cluster of cases has been detected in the United Arab Emirates and a Malaysian who was recently in the Gulf has been confirmed as infected, his country said.

MERS has no vaccine or anti-viral treatment, but international and Saudi health authorities say the disease, which originated in camels, does not transmit easily between people and may simply die out.

Health experts have warned, however, that MERS has the potential to mutate eventually.

The number of officially confirmed Saudi cases has jumped suddenly over the past two weeks.

Saudi authorities last week issued several statements aimed at reassuring the public that there was no immediate cause for concern at the latest outbreak and that it had not met international definitions of an epidemic.

Rabia said the ministry had invited five European and North American companies to work with it in developing a vaccine and that some of the companies would soon visit the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, is expected to receive a surge of pilgrims in July during the faith's annual fasting month of Ramadan, followed by millions more in early October for the Haj.

New infections

Last week Malaysian health authorities said a Malaysian citizen had been confirmed as having the disease after he returned from pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Rumours of unreported cases have circulated on Saudi social media feeds in recent weeks. Last week, the kingdom's cabinet asked Saudi news organisations to report only those cases that are officially confirmed by the Health Ministry.

Most of the new infections are in Saudi Arabia's port city of Jeddah, where 37 people have been infected since Monday, seven of them fatally. Another 10 new cases, one of them fatal so far, were discovered in the capital Riyadh. There were also new cases confirmed in Najran Province and the city of Medina.

Last week, another cluster of cases was discovered in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, and Yemen reported its first case.

Separately, the UAE state news agency WAM said late on Saturday that it had recorded 12 new cases of coronavirus infections that were discovered during "routine checks" on people who had come into contact with infected individuals.

WAM quoted the health authority as saying that the patients were being kept in hospital and "did not pose a danger to the public or to patients". It expected the patients to be rid of the MERS virus within 10 to 14 days. — Reuters