Egypt recorded the first case of death due to MERS virus

On February 28, Egyptian health officials confirmed a patient died after a viral infection in the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV). This is the first death due to this virus strain in Egypt.

>>>Has proven to be camel infected with MERS-CoV virus

The patient was a 56-year-old woman who had just returned to Egypt after a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and was transferred to a hospital in the southern province of Aswan for active examination and treatment.

A group of Egyptian, Hong Kong (Chinese) and American scientists said on February 27 that the MERS-CoV virus strain was found in camel-derived products in Egypt.

The researchers conducted 12 collection of nasal mucosa samples and serum of 110 adult camels (one type of tumor) in abattoirs in Egypt between June and December 2013. Analysis results show that there are four positive camels with MERS-CoV virus.

However, all serum samples of 179 people working at these slaughter houses were negative for this virus strain.

MERS-CoV virus strain is found in camel-derived products in Egypt.(Source: AP)

The results of the study provide additional evidence that camels may be a source of human infection.

Earlier on December 17, Dutch and Qatar scientists announced for the first time that camels were infected with MERS-CoV, by analyzing clinical samples including nasal mucosa, blood and Rectal samples taken from 14 camels live in a stable in Qatar.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since MERS-CoV first appeared in September 2012, there have been 182 cases worldwide, of which 79 died.

Saudi Arabia is the most heavily affected country with 60 deaths over a total of 145 cases.

Last October, a female patient in Mansoura province in northern Egypt was thought to have died of MERS-CoV infection. However, the Ministry of Health of this country later confirmed that the death was due to infection with influenza A / H1N1 virus or swine flu.

MERS-CoV is considered a "relative" of the acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus that haunted Asia in 2003.

Like SARS, MERS also causes flu symptoms and is thought to be transmitted from animals to humans, but more dangerous than SARS because it can cause kidney failure and the death rate of infected people is up to 51%.

Currently, experts still face many difficulties in understanding the characteristics of MERS, as well as not finding preventive vaccines.