MERS virus infects family in UAE, kills two in Qatar: WHO

Tuesday, December 3, 2013
By Paul Martin

BY KATE KELLAND
Reuters.com
Dec 2, 2013

(Reuters) – Another three people in the United Arab Emirates are sick with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus and two people infected with it in Qatar have died, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

The new cases in UAE were in a family in Abu Dhabi – a mother, father and an 8-year-old boy – the United Nations health agency said in a disease outbreak update. The parents are both in a critical condition in hospital, the boy has mild respiratory symptoms.

The WHO said the mother gave birth while in hospital, adding the baby, other close family contacts and healthcare staff were being monitored and tested for signs of the virus.

MERS, which emerged last year and can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia, has killed almost 40 percent of the people it has so far infected around the world, with cases in countries across the Middle East as well as in Europe and north Africa.

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