UAE reports a MERS coronavirus infection, brings global total to 82 cases

In a World Health Organization (WHO) update today, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reported a laboratory-confirmed case of infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the country.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Image/CIA

What is known about the case is the patient is an 82-year-old man with underlying medical conditions and is currently in critical condition.

This brings the global total of cases from September 2012 to date reported to the WHO to 82 laboratory-confirmed cases, this includes 45 deaths.

LISTEN: The radio interview “A Conversation About MERS Coronavirus”

In May of this year, a patient who had a history of travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates was treated for MERS-CoV in France.

The 65-year-old man died from the disease later in the month becoming the first reported fatality of MERS-CoV in France.

WHO has received reports of laboratory-confirmed cases originating in the following countries in the Middle East to date: Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom also reported laboratory-confirmed cases; they were either transferred there for care of the disease or returned from the Middle East and subsequently became ill.

In France, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom, there has been limited local transmission among patients who had not been to the Middle East but had been in close contact with the laboratory-confirmed or probable cases.

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