More MERS Virus Cases Documented in Saudi Arabia in Past 24 Hours

Saudi Arabia has documented 14 new cases of MERS within the past 24 hours and five of those patients have died. This continued spiked in cases is worrying Saudi officials as well as other countries who previously documented cases of MERS.

These documentations bring up the total count to 313 infections and 92 deaths since its discovery in 2012. The Saudi Arabian Health Ministry is concerned with the recent outbreak because millions of Muslims will participate in Hajj later this year, the religious pilgrimage, and they fear the disease can dangerously spread during the event.

Last week the health ministry contacted the World Health Organization as well as other medical experts to set up a meeting to discuss the status of the disease and any possible vaccine developments. Ministry of Health spokesman Khalid Marghalani told the state media that a drug company is soon arriving in the country to discuss the production of a vaccine.

As promised, the interim Health Minister Adel Fakieh is delivering transparency on the issue, something his predecessor Abdullah al-Rabiah did not. Former Health Minister al-Rabiah stepped down earlier this week after he and his officials poorly handled the initial outbreak. International health officials complained that al-Rabiah was not releasing any information regarding the virus and its potential mutation based on the recent cases, Time Magazine reports.

But Saudi Arabia and the Middle East aren't the only ones concerned. Now the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing for MERS to make its way into the country via a traveler. A couple of weeks ago, a man in Minnesota was found to have Lassa fever, a rare viral illness, after traveling to West Africa. So just to be sure, the CDC is taking the proper measures in the event of an incident.

"We are preparing, and we are always watching for possible cases," said David Swerdlow of the CDC's MERS response team, in this NPR article. "We don't think that everyone on a flight is necessarily at risk. "If there ever were a case, we would probably look at everybody on the flight."

There will be more information next week after Saudi Arabian officials meet with the WHO to discuss a management strategy. You can read more about the MERS outbreak in this CNN News article.