Fear of MERS Virus Outbreak in the Middle East Begins in Saudi Arabia

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has been documented in six countries in or near the Arabian Peninsula. A total of 50 cases were reported in Saudi Arabia in the last week and seven of them were fatal.

MERS is the result of a coronavirus, which causes a mild to moderate upper-respiratory illness. A coronavirus caused the SARS outbreak back in 2003 and killed nearly 800 people across four continents. Health officials are currently investigating the source of the coronavirus that causes MERS.

Since its discovery in 2012, MERS has infected 344 people worldwide, but it's gaining a lot of attention right now because 50 cases were documented in Saudi Arabia in the past week, with 13 on Monday alone. Doctors and health officials are unsure why the sudden increase occurred, but they witnessed similar numbers toward the end of winter last year.

Since April of 2012, the countries that documented MERS cases are France, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Kingdom, and United Arab Emirates. All of the people who contracted the disease were in the Middle East before being diagnosed and there has been limited human-to-human transmission of MERS outside the region as well.

Camels are believed to be the hosts of the virus, which is transmitted to humans and kills about one-third of those infected. As a result of the recent outbreak, Saudi officials contacted the World Health Organization and medical experts to set up a meeting within the next week to discuss the status of MERS as well as any possible vaccines that can be developed to prevent its spread.

This comes after Saudi Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabiah stepped down from his position because of criticism due to his handling of the outbreak. He was allegedly responsible for not releasing any information regarding the virus and its potential mutation based on the recent cases, Time Magazine reports.

The World Health Organization, based on their latest report, has received minimal information regarding the outbreak, so hopefully they can clear things up toward the end of this month.