WHO to Hold Urgent Talks as MERS Cases Soar

Something's up. The WHO will hold urgent talks on MERS next week. Up until now, the "experts" have been insisting that people only get MERS from camels and oh yeah, in dirty hospitals. Finally they're admitting community acquired secondary cases might be a bigger problem than realized.

MERS might be seasonal. Inadequate hygiene in hospitals accounts for the spike in hospital cases but does not explain the rise in community acquired cases. Evidence shows that many infected patients do not get sick and may carry and spread the virus unknowingly. As well, MERS patients with large virus concentrations are highly infectious - if such sick patients do not go to hospital, this may help explain MERS' spread in the community.

Saudi Arabia reports seven more deaths from MERS, 10 other cases

WHO to hold urgent talks as Mers cases soar

WHO warns of risk to Syrian refugees as Mers virus cases increase sharply

UN health body fears secondary infections may be rising, raising potential for global spread and stirring memories of Sars virus

The World Health Organisation (WHO) will hold urgent talks next week on the often fatal Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) virus, after a sharp increase in infections in Saudi Arabia, and the first reported case in Lebanon.

The virus has killed 164 people in the Middle East in the past two years – 126 in Saudi Arabia alone – and the number of cases in numerous countries in the region has risen in recent weeks.

There are fears that secondary infections may be rising, raising the potential for a greater global spread, and stirring memories of the Sars virus, which claimed more than 700 lives in east Asia in 2003, causing mass fear and disruption.

Mers is a coronavirus, like Sars, but is not transmitted as easily. However, more than 30% of people infected with it die, as opposed to a 10% mortality rate with Sars patients. The relatively high death rate has alarmed public health officials across the region, particularly those working with vulnerable Syrian refugee populations.

Another five deaths and 14 new infections were announced by Saudi authorities on Friday.

a reply to: soficrow

I see a commercialized pandemic brewing ;-) Lots of transfer payments from countries to the pharmaceutical industry for untested and placebo vaccines with lots of Thimosol and other toxic adjuncts, yehaw! A little more dumbing down never hurt a population group right and all that money going to big pharma out of our tax dollars is just "good sense trickle down economics!"

I am almost believing my own sarcasm LOL

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: bobs_uruncle

I see a commercialized pandemic brewing

There's a pandemic brewing alright - if not MERS then something else. And you're right - business is an opportunistic beastie that plays anything and everything for profit. No doubt Big Pharma's the worst of the lot.

Still, assuming we know about 10% of what's really going on, the MERS situation is looking a bit concerning. [Note that as with Ebola, the WHO relies on each country to provide their numbers - and countries are most concerned with preserving their economies and tourist trade.]

A 5-year old Egyptian child has been quarantined for suspicion of contracting the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), commonly known as coronavirus.

Globally, from September 2012 to (May 5, 2014), WHO has been informed of a total of 496 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV. This total includes 229 cases reported between 11 April and 4 May by Saudi Arabia, and the recent reports of 3 cases from Jordan, and one case each from Egypt, the United States, and Yemen.

WHO will update the global total number of deaths as soon as official information is provided by countries.

I'm personally alittle spooked about the MERS virus.

a reply to: soficrow

I was being facetious. Remember the huge H1N1 pandemic scare, it was ridiculous. More people die from the the "normal" flu every year in the US alone compared to the entire H1N1 alleged pandemic and don't say it was because of the vaccinations because that is patently BS when these clowns can trot out crap like Tamiflu that has been proven to be 99% placebo effect or nothing at all. It is simply the Hegelian Dialectic at work again.

If commercial computer anti-virus companies can engage in this kind of activity to boost business, why can't biological anti-virus companies (vaccine producers) do the same for fun and profit?

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: bobs_uruncle

...If commercial computer anti-virus companies can engage in this kind of activity to boost business, why can't biological anti-virus companies (vaccine producers) do the same for fun and profit?

They can and they absolutely would, except - they don't have to. Nature's doing it all on her own. It's called evolution. We changed the world -including it's molecular composition- and now everything is adapting to the New Biological Order.