12 May 2013 (22:03 UTC-07 Tango 11 May 2013)/02 Rajab 1434/22 Ordibehest 1391/03 Ding-Si (4th month) 4711

On 11 May 2013, France reported that three people tested for the new MERS were negative. What many reports didn’t tell you is that there are at least two more possible cases.

Beside the man who came back from United Arab Emirates (UAE) sick, two people connected to him are also sick.  Testing has confirmed one to be positive for MERS, medical personnel are waiting for the test results on the other person.

The second French man who is infected with MERS, got infected while in the same hospital room as the first MERS infected man.  Benoit Guery, the head of the Lille hospital’s infectious diseases service, says it proves “The airborne transmission of the virus was possible.”

Health officials in Thailand have issued a warning.  Anyone returning from trips to West Asia (Middle East) should report to a doctor for examination, especially if they have symptoms of the flu or colds.

The UN World Health Organization issued a warning, they want all health officials to be on the lookout for people with SARS like symptoms as well as pneumonia.  The UNWHO is also sending a two man team to Saudi Arabia, where at least two more cases have been confirmed.  The new two man team is independent of the UNWHO team that was invited by the government of Saudi Arabia.

The latest cases in Saudi Arabia are people who got sick last month, but no doctor recognized their infections as MERS until now. There are now 33 confirmed cases, and 18 deaths.