Thursday, October 02, 2014

First Ebola, Now MERS

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Pestilence. As an enterovirus spreads through 42 States in America, and Ebola rips through West Africa and has the world on edge, an epidemic of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is expected to make its way through Africa in early 2015, coinciding with the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca. The MERS coronavirus is believed to be seasonal, and is expected to be in full force by the Spring.  Believed to have originated in camels, which makes one wonder how the virus made its way to humans, MERS has killed 333 people and infected more than 850 since it emerged in 2012.

Unlike Ebola, which has killed 10 times as many people, there is still no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of MERS in communities, and the committee said the disease still did not constitute a "public health emergency of international concern".

For the most part, except for a few travel-related cases, MERS has been confined to the Arabian peninsula, Lebanon, Jordan and Iran.  The annual pilgrimage to Mecca by Muslims from Africa is expected to bring the disease back into the continent, creating a new possible epidemic if MERS begins to spread through Africa.

Though cases have remained around throughout the year, the number of cases of MERS has dropped significantly since April.

How the disease is spread still remains a mystery.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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