The first MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) casualty in Egypt is likely to be a woman from Port Said, as per Reuters.
The report said authorities are currently investigating the death of a 60-year-old woman who lately returned from an Islamic pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, where the first case of the MERS virus was reported in September 2012. Reuters said this will be the first Egyptian death due to MERS if authorities confirm the existence of the virus, citing city Health Ministry official Helmi el-Efni.
"Authorities last week reported Egypt's first MERS case, a man who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia and was being treated at a hospital in Cairo," Reuters further reports.
The Egyptian Health Ministry issued a travel warning Friday, May 2, against children, elderly people and persons with a heart condition from travelling to Saudi Arabia.
In Saudi Arabia, two more people have died due to the infection, increasing the death toll to 112. Health authorities also reported that 15 more have contracted the mysterious disease, bringing the total number of MERS cases in the kingdom to 411.
The MERS virus belongs to the coronavirus family, which also includes the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus, which first cropped up in China in 2003 and is responsible for some 800 deaths all over the globe, and the common cold virus.
The virus first manifests itself in flu-like symptoms, such as coughing, sore throat or a fever. If the virus does not die out, the symptoms can easily morph into more serious conditions, such as a lung infection or even kidney failure.
"The mortality rate is at around 30% or 40%. As long as we don't know how the virus behaves and how we can control it, the virus remains a danger," World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Gregory Härtl told the Deutsche Welle.
Experts believe the virus comes from dromedaries, also called the Arabian camel or Indian camel, as the animals have been found to harbor antibodies for the virus in their system as well as the virus itself.
Further research is needed to confirm this theory, but Saudi Arabian health authorities are not willing to take the risk. Acting health minister Adel M. Fakieh issued an advisory cautioning citizens against direct contact with camels as well as consuming raw camel meat and milk.
A local media outlet reported that the municipality of Jeddah, where majority of the cases were found, removed at least 500 dromedary stables, leading to a massive drop in total sales of camel meat from RAS 1.9 million to only RAS 400.000 in the last month.
MERS currently does not have a vaccine or an anti-viral treatment, but health experts believe it is not transmitted easily between people. They also agree that the best way to prevent MERS is good hygiene, since it is an airborne disease that can be contracted when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
