Saudi Arabia Sars-like virus 'kills five'

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May lookout alert...ingat.

Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines
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LIST: The 43 passengers of Etihad Airlines EY0424 who cannot be contacted by the Department of Health (Philippines) as of 12pm today.

These passengers, who arrived at NAIA from Abu Dhabi last April 15, 2014, are enjoined to coordinate and cooperate with the DOH to undergo testing and thus prevent the spread of MERS-CoV. Go to the DOH nearest hospital or call DOH hotlines: 711-1001; 711-1002; 0922-884-1564; 0920-949-8419; 09157725621.

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Asia SARs death toll 10 years ago was 299 deaths in HK alone...

Saudi MERS deaths top 100, fuelling public fear

Saudi MERS deaths top 100, fuelling public fear
By: Agence France-Presse
April 28, 2014 4:00 AM


JEDDAH - The MERS death toll in Saudi Arabia topped 100 on Sunday as the authorities scrambled to reassure an increasingly edgy population in the country worst-hit by the infectious coronavirus.
Public fears have been fuelled by a rapid rise in the number of fatalities from the respiratory infection, with 39 people dying this month -- well over a third of the 102 deaths registered since the virus emerged in April 2012.

A nine-month-old infant was among eight new deaths from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome announced by the health ministry on Sunday.

It said the total number of cases diagnosed since the virus was first recorded in the kingdom has reached 339, representing the bulk of infections registered worldwide.

Among them were four medical staff at a single hospital in Tabuk in the northwest, two doctors -- one Egyptian and one Syrian -- and two Philippine nurses.

Panic over the spread of the virus among medical staff in the western city of Jeddah led to the temporary closure of a main hospital's emergency room.

At least four doctors at Jeddah's King Fahd Hospital resigned earlier this month after refusing to treat MERS patients for fear of infection.

Experts are still struggling to understand MERS, for which there is no known vaccine.

It is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus which erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

Riyadh dismissed the health minister earlier this month without saying why, and Labour Minister Adel Fakieh, appointed acting health minister, promised "transparency" over MERS.

Ailing King Abdullah himself travelled to Jeddah on Thursday to reassure the public and demonstrate that "exaggerated and false rumours" about MERS are false, said his son, National Guard Minister Prince Mitab.

Fakieh said on Saturday that three specialised medical centres have been set up in Jeddah, Riyadh and Eastern Province.

Shortage of face masks

But people are still not taking any chances.

"I've decided to keep my six-year-old daughter at home and not send her to school," said Umm Muntaha. "Prevention is better than cure."

Schools remain open despite rumours of possible closures, but many have asked parents to equip their children with face masks and disinfectants.

Pharmaceutical sources have already spoken of a shortage of masks in Jeddah because of rising demand.

"Demand for masks has grown 10 times during the past two weeks," said one pharmacist in Jeddah, who has now run out of stock.

The health ministry has not taken any "additional measures" at airports apart from the "usual preventive measures", a ministry official said.

MERS infections are rising steadily just months ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage to the Muslim sacred sites in Mecca and Medina, which this year comes in September.

Pilgrims continue to visit Mecca for the lesser umra pilgrimage, which can be performed at any time.

The hajj ministry has not yet taken any special MERS-related measures.

"We have not distributed masks and not taken any preventive measures," ministry undersecretary Abdullah Marghalani said.

"We have not received any instructions about the virus and how to immunise umra pilgrims against it."

MERS has not had any impact on the numbers of pilgrims, Marghalani told Al-Eqtisadiah daily, adding that some 3.8 million pilgrims have visited the country this year.

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Another OFW...

Bandila
1 hr ·

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – A 45-year-old Filipina nurse from Negros Occidental died of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) at the King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

The information came from her husband whose name is being withheld.

The husband said the director of King Fahd Medical City informed him through a phone call that his wife died at 11:50 a.m. Saudi time (5:50 p.m. Philippine time).

The deceased was an emergency room nurse at the King Fahd Medical City, one of the most modern hospitals in Riyadh.

The husband said his wife succumbed to renal failure with very low blood pressure, symptoms of MERS-CoV.

She underwent dialysis a day before she died and had a bypass operation, he added.

The husband said he and his 13-year-old daughter will not go to Saudi Arabia to avoid possible contamination of the virus.

He had already given authorization to a friend of his wife, another Filipina nurse at the same hospital, to process all the claims,
including her body’s return to Negros, he added.

The husband said he had made a formal request through email on advice of the hospital director to have his wife’s body frozen for two months and flown home.

“Because I was informed by our friend, who is also a nurse in Riyadh, that they don‘t practice cremation or embalming of the dead,” he said.

“I was also informed that MERS-CoV victims are frozen for two months, which is the incubation period and for the virus to subside. I want my wife to be buried here.”

The husband said he last spoke to his wife last April 30 and she informed him that she had pneumonia and was placed in quarantine for MERS-CoV.

After two days, he was informed that his wife had been transferred to the intensive care unit, he added.

The husband said his wife could have been spared of MERS-CoV if she had been able to go home in March this year, but her vacation was re-scheduled to the last week of June because the hospital lacks personnel.

“She was very excited to go home to attend to the graduation of our daughter who got an honor in their class,” he said.

The husband said his wife started working in Saudi Arabia in a different hospital in 2001 and transferred to King Fahd Medical City in 2005.

In February 2013, she went home and returned to Saudi Arabia after more than a month of vacation, he added.

His wife’s jewelry and personal belongings had been disinfected and would be sent home in a package.