Tag Archives: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

Saudi Arabia Fires Health Minister After MERS Outbreak

Saudi Arabia fired Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabiah in the mist of the largest outbreak of the killer MERS virus since its discovery two years ago.

The news comes as two more people were confirmed to have died from the virus.  A 73-year-old Saudi man died in Riyadh and a 54-year-old man in Jeddah died on Monday.

Saudi Arabia has been dealing with a major outbreak of the virus with over 20 infections discovered in the last week.  The country’s death toll climbed to 83 and the total number of cases jumped to 261.  The outbreak of the last week was more than ten percent of the total cases.

The now-former Health Minister had said on Monday he didn’t know why there was a sudden rise in the virus other than noting there was a small increase the previous April.

The World Health Organization confirmed the first cases of the virus in Southeast Asia.  There is no vaccine for MERS.

33 Now Confirmed Dead From MERS

The World Health Organization has confirmed a 33rd death from the MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) coronavirus along with three new cases in Saudi Arabia.

The new cases make 58 laboratory-confirmed cases of the infection. The latest death was a 21-year-old man who had been admitted into intensive care earlier this week. The death is unusual in that most cases involve older people; the other two cases in Saudi Arabia are a 63-year old woman in stable condition and a 75-year-old man in intensive care. Continue reading →