The Centers for Disease Control has confirmed the deadly MERS virus has reached the United States.
The patient was found in Indiana. He had traveled from Saudi Arabia to London and then to Chicago where he entered the country through O’Hare International Airport. The male patient reportedly went to the hospital for treatment after experiencing shortness of breath on April 28th.
“The CDC, IDPH and CDPH do not consider passengers on the flight or bus to be close contacts of the patient and therefore are not at high risk,” CDC Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouk said in a news release.
The U.S. now the 14th nation in the world to have reported cases of the killer virus.
The CDC is trying to assuage any fears among the public of an outbreak of the virus.
“It is understandable that some may be concerned about this situation, but this first U.S. case of MERS-CoV infection represents a very low risk to the general public,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of CDC’s National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases.
The CDC has not yet issued a travel health warning for Saudi Arabia as Egypt has recently done because of the MERS outbreak.
The Muslim Brotherhood is now a terrorist organization in another major Middle Eastern country.
The group, already a terrorist organization in Egypt, is now officially a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia.
The move is seen as a response by the Kingdom to the possibility that Muslim Brotherhood extremists from Syria will attempt to return to Saudi Arabia after the civil war ends.
In addition to the Brotherhood, Saudi officials also listed the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as terror groups. The two groups are affiliated with al-Qaeda and have been proven to conduct terrorist attacks in Syria and Iraq.
The new Saudi declaration would make adopting their ideaology or promoting them in any way within the Kingdom would result in significant prison terms.
Amnesty International opposed the designation, saying that Saudi Arabia was trying to silence dissent, not stop terrorist groups from conducting actions in their nation.
President Obama and other world leaders were hailing an agreement with Iran to put some controls on that country’s nuclear program but throughout the Middle East the news of the agreement was met with anger and skepticism.
Saudi Arabian officials were furious that American negotiators and those connected to the Obama administration had not briefed them at all regarding the deal with Iran. A senior advisor to the Saudi royal family said they had been lied to and that the Obama administration had hidden information from them. He said Saudi leaders were not necessarily upset with the deal but the way it was handled by Washington.
The Saudi government eventually issued a moderately supportive statement about the deal.
“This agreement could be a first step towards a comprehensive solution for Iran’s nuclear program, if there are good intentions,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Israel reiterated their opposition to the deal. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon said that all options are on the table for his nation.
“We are not in a position of making a mistake or to gamble with our future,” Danon said. “That is why I am saying it very clear. All options are still on the table. And if we see that Iran continues with the effort to build a nuclear bomb, we will do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves.”
As world powers meet with Iranian negotiators over that country’s nuclear program, Iran’s supreme leader has made some strong anti-Semitic declarations against the nation of Israel.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran will only make limited concessions during the negotiations and then blasted Israel saying they were “the rabid dog of the region.”
“The Zionist regime is a regime whose pillars are extremely shaky and is doomed to collapse,” Khamenei said to AFP news agency.
French President Francois Hollande said that the comments by Khamenei were “unacceptable” but did not think they would derail the negotiations.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have both expressed concerns that the western nations negotiating with Iran would rush to ease sanctions without actually getting Iran to give up anything of significance.
Saudi Arabian officials report that Iraqi militia attacked an outpost in the far northwestern part of the kingdom.
Six mortar bombs landed near the border post but caused no damage.
Iraq’s al-Mukhtar Army militia, a group supported by the Iranian government, admitted carrying out the attack.
“The goal was to send a warning message to Saudis to tell them that their border stations and patrol are within our range of fire,” Wathiq al-Batat, commander of the al-Mukhtar Army, told Reuters. He said they wanted the Saudis to stop interfering in Iraq.
He also said that Saudis and Kuwaitis had been insulting the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed.
Iran refused to comment on the attack. Iran and Saudi Arabia have a long history of tension and the Saudis have committed to Iran not obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Scientists in Saudi Arabia believe they may have finally been able to confirm their theory that the MERS virus transmits to humans from camels.
The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus was discovered in a camel owned by a MERS victim according to the Saudi health ministry. DNA testing on the virus is being conducted to see if the virus is the same strain in both the camel and the human victim.
The virus causes pneumonia like symptoms but also produces very rapid and fatal kidney disease. The mortality rate for MERS is over 40 percent.
The virus is similar to the SARS virus that caused a worldwide outbreak in 2002-2003 that killed 775 people.
Researchers have found what might be the source of the deadly MERS virus that his killed 47 people out of 94 confirmed cases.
An Egyptian tomb bat collected close to the home of the first victim was discovered to have the virus in its feces. Scientists were able to make a genetic match from the virus to the first victim. The connection was long suspected as bats have been connected to various diseases in the past such as SARS, Ebola and rabies. Continue reading →
The Israeli Counter Terrorism Bureau has released a report showing that al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists groups are planning a major focus on Israeli and Jewish targets over the next few weeks.
The report listed dozens of nations where the CTB was “concrete” proof of a terrorist threat. Israeli citizens were urged to immediately leave nations Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon among others. A travel restriction was put in place to other nations such as Libya, Tunisia and Sudan. Continue reading →
Consumers love falling oil prices because of the corresponding drop in gas prices at the pump.
However, a significant slide in the price of oil could end up causing major civil unrest in the Middle East and other oil producing nations according to multiple economists and researchers. Continue reading →
Saudi Arabian health officials have asked any Muslim coming to their country on a religious pilgrimage to wear surgical masks to lessen chances of contracting the deadly MERS virus. Continue reading →
