The first case of death due to the Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus , MERS-CoV has been reported in Malaysia. According to the Ministry of Health, Malaysia's statement, the victim is a 54 year old man who went to Mecca for Umrah (pilgrimage) and returned to Malaysia, using a Turkish airline on 29 March 2014. He started to have signs and symptoms of respiratory disease on 8 to 9 April and as these deteriorated, he was admitted to a hospital in Batu Pahat, Johor on 10 April and expired three days ago on 13 April. The first reported death due to the virus in Asia.
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| MERS CoV and Distribution of Cases since 2012 with most detected in Saudi Arabia |
The Ministry of health has put on a public health alert on this potentially fatal disease.
The virus was first detected in 2012 in Middle-eastern countries ( I posted in my blog earlier) . It causes similar signs and symptoms to the dreaded SARS (severe acute respiratory syndromes) and its origin is believed to be from animals such as bats and camels. The disease can be transmitted through close contact. The frightening thing about this disease is that it kills about 50% of reported cases (high case fatality rate) and it has no vaccine. And there are no medications against it. For a more detailed information on this disease you can visit the CDC Atlanta website .
All close contacts of the case would have been investigated. But like all other diseases caused by viruses, they show a spectrum: some are very ill, some have mild disease while other cases may not show the signs and symptoms, in fact they appear well but may carry the virus (known as carriers) and could transmit to others through their body fluid. You might like to read this report from Manila on a health worker tested positive for the virus but has not shown symptoms. This is the part which is causing problems or anxiety to public health so we must all do our part by being overcautious through awareness,good personal hygiene and knowledge of the disease.
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