Tag: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

As second MERS case reported by CDC, Obama briefed

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Another Saudi national has brought a case of the deadly MERS virus to America.  This story has been all over the national and local news since it broke two days ago.

The US will now have to be added to the map. Where else?

See our coverage of the previous case in Indiana here ten days ago.

As we have said on previous occasions, if Americans don’t wise up to the security threats, the cultural challenges, the expense to taxpayers of opening our borders to the world, the one thing that will get their attention is the threat of deadly diseases their kids might contract at school, or they might pick up in a hospital or on the subway.

MERS is making the national news, but others, especially tuberculosis, are on the rise in the US immigrant population and the cases are reported only in the local media.  See our Health issues category for more.

From AP:

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Employees at two Orlando hospitals who came in contact with a Saudi resident infected by the second confirmed U.S. case of a rare virus are being monitored for symptoms and have been told to stay home for two weeks, health officials said Tuesday.

Fifteen hospital workers at Dr. Phillips Hospital and another five employees at Orlando Regional Medical Center were being monitored at home for fever, chills and muscle aches, said Dr. Antonio Crespo, an official with the hospital system.

So far, none of them has tested positive for MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. MERS is a respiratory illness that begins with flu-like fever and cough but can lead to shortness of breath, pneumonia and death.

The Saudi resident was being treated at Dr. Phillips Hospital, where he showed up at the emergency room May 8. Three days earlier, he had visited Orlando Regional Medical Center with a friend who went to the hospital for a test.

Two workers at Dr. Phillips Hospital, who were not identified, have shown flu-like symptoms recent days. One of them was sent home, and the other has been hospitalized in isolation. Both are awaiting test results that could come later this week. Crespo said MERS has been shown to have a 14-day incubation period.

[….]

The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama had been briefed on the MERS cases in the U.S.

We would be so much better off as a nation without the Saudis money, oil, students and diseases!

Pandemic panic: MERS at Mecca

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update July 5th: WHO to convene emergency talks on MERS, Tuesday (here).  Only second ever of such emergency talks.  Hat tip: Drudge

“Belgian medics have warned Muslims not to travel to Mecca, because the Hajj threatens to spread the virus worldwide.”

I’m wondering if every local US health department should be alerted in case Muslims from the US come in contact with the disease as they travel to the Hajj.

There has been another death of a Middle Eastern man in the UK from the mystery disease known to the health community, and soon to the world, as MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).  Here is the story from the UK Telegraph, hat tip: Always on Watch via twitter:

A man being treated in a London hospital for a lethal ‘Sars-like’ Middle Eastern virus has died.

This May 23rd graphic is already outdated—77 cases now with 43 deaths!

The man, a Qatari national, had been admitted to a private clinic in London in September, before being transferred to the specialist centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital.

He was diagnosed as suffering from the Mers virus – Middle East Respiratory Syndrome – which has affected 77 people worldwide, with 43 deaths.

“Guy’s and St Thomas’ can confirm that the patient with severe respiratory illness due to novel coronavirus (MERS-nCV) sadly died on Friday 28 June, after his condition deteriorated, despite every effort and full supportive treatment,” said Robin Wilkinson, a spokesman for the hospital.

The death of the Qatari man brings to three the number of victims who have died in the UK.

Warnings to be issued in advance of Hajj pilgrimage:

Known cases of the illness have quadrupled since April, and it is deadlier than Sars, which killed 774 people in 2003. SARS killed one in ten affected people; Mers has proved fatal in 65 per cent of cases.

The majority of the cases have been in Saudi Arabia, or in patients who have recently travelled to the region.

But with the annual Hajj pilgrimage due in October, and an estimated three million people travelling to Mecca, concerns are mounting that the deadly virus could spread swiftly.

“We need to get the facts clear and get the appropriate advice to all your countries where your pilgrims want to go to Mecca,” said Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organisation, in May. “It is something quite urgent.”

[….]

Cases have been reported in Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Britain, France, Italy, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia – the country with the most confirmed infections.

Visit our ‘health issues’ category for our previous coverage of MERS and other diseases and ailments that follow immigrants around the world.