[May 10, 2014]DOHA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on
Friday that seven more people infected with the Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) had died and identified 10 new cases of
the virus, pushing the total number of infections in the country to
473.
The additional seven deaths on Friday brings the
total death toll from the virus in Saudi Arabia to 133 since it was
identified two years ago, according to the kingdom's health
ministry.
The rate of infection in Saudi Arabia has surged in recent weeks
after big outbreaks associated with hospitals in Jeddah and Riyadh.
The total number of infections nearly doubled in April and has risen
by a further 25 percent already in May.
The recent upsurge is of particular concern because of the influx of
pilgrims from around the world expected in July during the Muslim
fasting month of Ramadan.
The ministry said on its website that the latest seven deaths were
of previously reported cases.
Of the new cases, five were in the capital Riyadh, four in Jeddah
and one in Taif, it said on the website. It added that only one of
the new cases was in intensive care.
Five other cases had recovered and were discharged from hospitals,
it said.
MERS is a coronavirus like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS),
which killed around 800 people worldwide after emerging in China in
2002. It can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia, and there is no
vaccine or anti-viral treatment against it.
The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday the hospital
outbreaks had been partly due to "breaches" in recommended infection
prevention and control measures, but added that there was no
evidence of a change in the virus's ability to spread.
Scientists around the world have been searching for the animal
source, or reservoir, of MERS virus infections ever since the first
human cases were confirmed in September 2012.
(Reporting by Amena Bakr, Editing by William Maclean and Hugh
Lawson)
The additional seven deaths on Friday brings the
total death toll from the virus in Saudi Arabia to 133 since it was
identified two years ago, according to the kingdom's health
ministry.
