Coronavirus MERS update: More cases more deaths!

07 June 2013 (12:48 UTC-07 Tango)/28 Rajab 1434/17 Khordad 1391/29 Wu-Wu (4th month) 4711

In Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), a 14 years old girl is sick with MERS.   She has other health problems, which seems to be a condition for getting infected with MERS.  She lives in an area of KSA that is not the current hot spot for infections, indicating it’s spreading.

Saudi health officials say an 83 years old man died in in the eastern region of Al-Ahsaa.  He developed symptoms on 27 May, and died on 31 May.  Within the KSA 25 people have died, and there are 40 people fighting the infection.  (other sources report numbers lower than that)

In Italy, there are now three people infected.   The man who came back from Jordan unknowingly infected a 42 years old woman and a 2 years old girl.

Going by the latest UN World Health Organization numbers, and current regional reports, there are more than 55 cases and more than 33 deaths, around the world.

There are reports that some people infected with MERS are not showing symptoms.  However, the virus is so new health officials are not sure what typical symptoms are: “…the virus has not been characterized yet. Thus, significant mutations in the viral genome that might explain changes in virulence on transmissibility cannot be confirmed as yet.”-Giovanna Rezza, International Society for Infectious Diseases