3 New Cases of MERS in Saudi Arabia: WHO Report & Health Warning

The World Health Organization revealed this week that the Saudi health authorities recorded 3 new infections with the Coronavirus that causes the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) from April 10 to 17, including one death.

The Ministry explained, according to: Data provided by the United NationsThe three cases are men from the capital, Riyadh, between the ages of 56 and 60, and all have chronic health conditions, indicating that they are not workers in the medical sector.

The Ministry also reported that there is a possible epidemiological link between the three cases, as it is believed that the virus occurred within a health care facility in the capital.

These cases bring the total number of infections reported in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of 2024 to 4, of which two died. However, the World Health Organization confirmed that these developments did not change the general assessment of the severity of the virus, which remains at a “moderate” level at regional and international levels.

What is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome?

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome is a viral respiratory disease caused by the Corona virus, and was first discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

The coronavirus that causes the syndrome is a zoonotic virus, which means it is transmitted between animals and humans. Its link to human disease in dromedary camels has been confirmed in several countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

The epidemiologist Dr. Ahmed Al-Tassa confirms that the Middle East Syndrome “is one of the types of coronavirus, and it originates, like all other types of coronavirus, from bats, but it was transferred to camels before it was sent to people. “

Al-Tassa explains in a statement to the Al-Hurra website that the latest wave of this syndrome was “very severe, more than the Covid-19 we have seen,” and caused high death rates.

Globally, 2,204 cases and 860 deaths have been reported, according to the agency. The majority, more than 80 percent, were registered in Saudi Arabia.

The death rate from infectious cases reaches 35 percent of the total diseases reported to World Health.

Typical symptoms of this disease include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Pneumonia is common, but patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome may not always develop this health condition. Gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhea, have also been reported.

Person-to-person transmission is still possible, and has occurred mostly between close contacts and in healthcare settings. Outside of these health facilities, human-to-human transmission was limited, according to the United Nations.

Regarding the method of transmission of this syndrome, the medical expert says that it is similar to what we know about the Corona virus, but because of its severity, it represents “a serious problem for medical teams.”

He said that if a large number of medical teams were infected and the death rates were high, this would cause a great panic among these teams, especially if they were not properly equipped, which continued to a collection of patient cases.

Al-Tassa does not expect the current spread to be similar to previous waves, affecting health systems and teams, especially in the Gulf countries, who now have knowledge and experience in deal with the issue of epidemics and viruses.

However, he says the problem with any viral wave is that it is bound to fluctuate, because we don’t know if it will be more deadly or not.

The health expert says that Global Health “expects that a new global disease or virus will occur in some way,” and the question is no longer if it will come or not, but when and ‘ question “when?”

The same speaker says that the questions raised are whether the upcoming viruses, whether Middle East Syndrome or others, will be more difficult than Corona, because in this case there will be we are also talking about high levels of deaths.

Details of recent cases

The Saudi Ministry of Health reported to the World Health Organization 3 cases of the disease in Riyadh between April 10-17, 2024, including one death.

All cases were linked to one health facility, two of which were identified through contact tracing of the referral case.

The latter was a 56-year-old Saudi teacher living in Riyadh. He developed symptoms on March 29 and his disease was confirmed on April 6.

This patient, who died on April 7, was suffering from persistent infections, although there was no clear history of exposure to the usual MERS risk factors. Contact tracing led to the identification of two secondary cases.

The second case was recorded in a 60-year-old retired Saudi, who was transferred to the same hospital and shared a room with the reference case.

He developed a fever on April 6 and his infection was confirmed on April 8. He also suffers from heart disease and is a smoker, and it is suspected that he contracted the virus while receiving medical care in hospital.

The third case concerns a 60-year-old retired military man, who also had contact with the reference case while they were together in the hospital’s emergency department. The patient developed shortness of breath on April 10, and his infection was diagnosed on April 15. He suffers from chronic kidney failure, tumors, and liver disease.

As of April 21, the second and third cases are still in intensive care and on ventilators. While the investigation is still ongoing to determine the source of the disease, no history of exposure to camels has been confirmed.

14 healthcare workers are also being monitored, and no additional cases have been identified so far, according to the agency.

The Professor of Clinical Pharmacotherapy at the University of Petra, Dr. Dirar Hassan Balawi, says that the spread of Middle East Syndrome “is not fast and its ability to move is slow,” unlike the Covid-19 virus which caused the Corona pandemic.

Balawi says that the cases that appear in Saudi Arabia are still very small, because in a period of about 7 or 8 months there were about 4 cases of infection, which means that it is being controlled on the virus, indicating that these new cases were expected to appear. issues.

While there are several treatments and vaccines for MERS in clinical development, unlike Covid-19, none have gone through clinical trials and been approved by regulators.

In this regard, Balawi said in a statement to the Al-Hurra website that there is no vaccine or treatment available for this disease so far, indicating that research and studies have been carried out, but due to the small number of documented cases, there have not been. has been completed.

It should be noted in the recent cases that the three had no direct contact with camels, which are the main known source of this virus.

In this regard, Al-Tassa says that it is too early to know how the virus spreads, noting that in previous cases, the spread was linked to camels, from after the virus was sent to them through a bat, and it was the animal’s place. the transmitter to people.

He said the virus could have caught an infected predator and been eaten by a person, for example, without cooking properly or handling it in a close manner, noting that “Investigations and research are continuing to find out where it came from and control it. , but this is only a matter of time as each case is checked on a case by case basis to find the zero point. ” Since the disease began.

For his part, Dr. Balawi says that transmission does not always occur through direct contact with camels, as the disease could come from contact with other infected people who received the virus from an animal source. and so the disease spread, confirming that this was created. alert in Saudi Arabia to track and trace those in contact to record all “cases”.

Regarding his reading of the future of this viral syndrome, the same spokesperson confirms that, so far, “it seems that this disease cannot move in the same way as Covid mutates and a ‘ spread, which caused the global pandemic, as the rate and The way it has moved over the past 12 years has been slow and not bad. “