Meron din MERS carrier dito sa pinas. Tigas ng ulo kasi.. Galing sa close contact with camels or drinking camel's milk...

MERS outbreaks grow; Malaysian case had camel link | CIDRAP

Outbreaks of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infections expanded further today with reports of seven more cases in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and three in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that Malaysia's first MERS patient had drunk camel milk when he visited Saudi Arabia.

In the UAE, the WHO today reported four cases in HCWs, but one of them apparently is that of the Filipino whose infection was reported by the media yesterday, after he flew home to the Philippines. Only one of the patients is sick, the agency reported.

The fourth patient is a 34-year-old man from the Philippines who lives in Abu Dhabi and is healthy, the agency said. Apparently referring to him, the statement adds that one patient "returned to his home country although he was advised not to before the laboratory results were received."

Media reports yesterday said the test results were released after the man, a nurse, arrived home in the Philippines. Officials said then that the man and nine of his close contacts were in quarantine, and airline passengers who sat near him were being traced.

Today's WHO statement also adds information on the case reported yesterday in a Malaysian man who died of MERS-CoV after a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. His case and that of the Filipino are the first MERS cases reported in the Far East.

The Malaysian man, 54, traveled to Saudi Arabia with a group of 18 pilgrims and was away from Mar 15 to 28. While visiting a camel farm on Mar 26, he drank camel milk, the WHO said. The man fell ill after returning home and died on Apr 13.

Studies have suggested that MERS-CoV is fairly common in camels in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries, and one or two human MERS patients were found to have had contact with infected camels. Thus camels are strongly suspected to be a source of MERS-CoV in humans, but the precise transmission route is unknown.