“I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”-Revelation 6:8
05 July 2013 (14:00 UTC-07 Tango)/26 Sha’ban 1434/14 Tir 1391/28 Ji-Wie (5th month) 4711
“I do want to stress that there are a lot of things that we do not know. For example, one of the key pieces of missing information is that are there many people who have mild infections or asymptomatic infections that we are missing.”–Keiji Fukuda, UNWHO
Despite reports that the MERS virus is not at pandemic levels, the UN World Health Organization is calling an emergency International Health Regulations meeting, to be held next week.
This would be the second time the UNWHO called such a meeting. The first was during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
“If in the future we do see some kind of explosion or if there is some big outbreak or we think the situation has really changed, we will already have a group of emergency committee experts who are already up to speed….”–Keiji Fukuda, UNWHO
On 03 July 2013, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reported the deaths of one man and one woman. Also, a man from Qatar died in London. He got infected back in September 2012, and died on 28 June 2013, yet it wasn’t reported until a few days ago.
Unofficially there have been 45 deaths out of 77 cases. The New England Journal of Medicine confirms MERS has a 65% kill rate.
30 June 2013 (14:16 UTC-07 Tango)/21 Sha’ban 1434/09 Tir 1391/23 Wu-Wu (5th month) 4711
With concerns over the estimated millions of people traveling to Mecca in the Gregorian month of October, it turns out that women who wear face veils might be saving their own lives, and preventing the spread of MERS! That claim is based on data showing that 74% of the victims of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome are men.
There is nothing that says men can’t wear veils (nomadic men do). What about our equal rights? In fact the Qur’an says to cover yourself modestly, which is generally accepted as covering as much of yourself as possible or practical. In the case of fighting a disease face coverings are very practical, even mandatory.
A little super ancient history side note from Central Asia. The ancient people of Central Asia (Aryans) had a myth that said when the creators first put humans on Earth, the humans were told not to expose any part of their body to the environment. Ancient Mongolians said the horse was given to humans to help them travel without having to walk on the ground, because the ground was toxic. In many super ancient societies ‘hell’ literally meant the ground/underground or Earth itself. Perhaps when humans first appeared on Earth the environment was too dangerous, and that’s where the concept of being covered from head to toe came from (how did the first humans know how to make clothes? the super ancient myths say the ‘creators’ gave them the clothes).
The UN World Health Organization has updated its plans for defending against a MERS pandemic. MERS lodges itself in your lower respiratory system, where it can take up to 14 days before you get sick. This explains why standard nose swabs (nasopharyngeal, or NP) have been showing up negative on people who turn out to be infected.
UNWHO is advising medical personnel to consider every person the infected patient could have seen in the 14 days prior to showing symptoms.
A German researcher has discovered that a UAE man, who died from MERS, was treating a sick camel when he got infected. The camel recovered, however no tests were done on the camel to see if it had MERS.
Healthcare workers should use airborne and contact defense tactics to protect themselves when treating people infected with MERS.
The UNWHO reports there are now 77 confirmed cases, with 40 deaths.
23 June 2013 (13:18 UTC-07 Tango)/14 Sha’ban 1434/02 Tir 1391/16 Wu-Wu (5th month) 4711
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) reporting another person has died and two more people are infected. That makes 70 cases and 39 deaths globally.
KSA health officials continue to accuse a Netherlands university of intentionally dragging their feet on developing a vaccine for the bat virus. KSA officials say the university wanted to wait for patent rights before continuing with research.
There is growing evidence that MERS is a fast spreader, especially inside hospitals.
07 June 2013 (12:48 UTC-07 Tango)/28 Rajab 1434/17 Khordad 1391/29 Wu-Wu (4th month) 4711
In Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), a 14 years old girl is sick with MERS. She has other health problems, which seems to be a condition for getting infected with MERS. She lives in an area of KSA that is not the current hot spot for infections, indicating it’s spreading.
Saudi health officials say an 83 years old man died in in the eastern region of Al-Ahsaa. He developed symptoms on 27 May, and died on 31 May. Within the KSA 25 people have died, and there are 40 people fighting the infection. (other sources report numbers lower than that)
In Italy, there are now three people infected. The man who came back from Jordan unknowingly infected a 42 years old woman and a 2 years old girl.
Going by the latest UN World Health Organization numbers, and current regional reports, there are more than 55 cases and more than 33 deaths, around the world.
There are reports that some people infected with MERS are not showing symptoms. However, the virus is so new health officials are not sure what typical symptoms are: “…the virus has not been characterized yet. Thus, significant mutations in the viral genome that might explain changes in virulence on transmissibility cannot be confirmed as yet.”-Giovanna Rezza, International Society for Infectious Diseases
03 June 2013 (18:43 UTC-07 Tango 02 June 2013)/24 Rajab 1434/13 Khordad 1391/25 Wu-Wu (4th month) 4711
Health officials in Bahrain are denying a report that a MERS infected man fled the country. Apparently the man from Pakistan was placed under quarantine in Bahrain, after getting sick, but snuck out before test results were in. Officials did admit that the man was detained at the airport: “The Pakistani national, 55, was transferred on Saturday to the Salmaniya Medical Complex after the customs at the King Fahd Causeway alerted the health authorities who dispatched an ambulance.”
Saudi Arabian news media reporting three new deaths, and a new case of infection. The three that died had other chronic health problems. A woman with heart disease is the latest person to be infected with MERS virus.
In Italy, a 45 years old man who returned from Jordan, is infected with MERS. His symptoms are high fever, cough, and breathing difficulties.
So far, all MERS cases have been directly connected to West Asia (Middle East). The number of cases should be at 52, with 30 deaths.
Health officials with the government of the Philippines are ignorantly telling families not to worry about their loved ones working in Saudi Arabia: “Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia should be properly informed, educated, and guided about taking care of their health amid the spread of MERS.”-John Leonard Monterona, Philippines Migrante Middle East regional coordinator
The problem with the above statement is that MERS is a brand new virus, and World health officials don’t know how it’s being spread, or how people can protect themselves from it! It’s only been realized in the past couple of weeks that it is airborne.
Back in Saudi Arabia, reports of an outbreak of Klebsiella bacteria at the Al-Ahsa Obstetrics and Children Hospital. Health officials say the number of cases are limited, but locals say four children have died.
30 May 2013 (03:30 UTC-07 Tango)/20 Rajab 1434/09 Khordad 1391/21 Ding-Si (4th month) 4711
The UN World Health Organization said there are now 49 confirmed cases and 27 deaths.
Health officials are calling for longer quarantine periods for people infected with the new MERS virus. A new study published in the Lancet concluded that the bat virus takes much longer to incubate inside a host (9-12 days versus 1-9 days). This means it’s possible for an infected person to spread the virus before they actually get sick.
28 May 2013 (12:28 UTC-07 Tango)/18 Rajab 1434/07 Khordad 1392/19 Ding-Si (4th month) 4711
“…the imminent threats are the H7N9 influenza virus and the new coronavirus emerging in the Middle East.”-Ian Lipkin, Center for Infection and Immunity
French news media reporting that the man who returned from Dubai, infected with the new bat related virus, MERS, has died. It was that case which confirmed that MERS is airborne and can infect human to human, because another man sharing the hospital room with the MERS infected man is now sick.
In Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), a woman suffering from chronic illness was finally done in by MERS. KSA Ministry of Health are also reporting five new cases.
By my count, the number of deaths are at 24, out of 49 cases.
The UN World Health Organization says it will now help KSA prepare for possible massive outbreak of MERS during the upcoming Islamic Haj pilgrimage (in October).
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention is now warning all U.S. medical personnel to be on the lookout, as any person who returned from the Middle East (West Asia) showing sings of illness could have MERS.
In China, a new research center is being opened by National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention) and the U.S. Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health’s Center for Infection and Immunity.
It’s been years in the planning and is called Joint Research Laboratory for Pathogen Discovery. The operators say the timing is just right, since it appears the World is being hit with several new diseases right now. Researchers believe the greatest need is finding ways to fight H7N9 and MERS. China is paying for the new research center.
26 May 2013 (18:06 UTC-07 Tango 25 May 2013)/16 Rajab 1434/05 Khordad 1391/17 Ding-Si (4th month) 4711
“We do not know the full geographic spread of this virus.”-Keiji Fukuda, UN World Health Organization
The United Nations World Health Organization is now demanding that all countries share data on new diseases. The concern is that many countries are not willing to share info because they might lose valuable patent rights. Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO, said new international health regulations should protect such copyrights: “WHO collaborating centers, all of them, will not take intellectual property right to stop the sharing of information and to stop or delay the development of diagnostic tests or serology tests.”
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia claims there was a three months delay in addressing the new coronavirus/MERS outbreak, because a European company was arguing over who gets the patent rights!
Officials with the Erasmus Medical Center, in the Netherlands, fired back saying “It is clearly a misunderstanding…”, pointing out that “….a virus cannot be patented, only specific applications related to it, like vaccines and medicines…”
Saudi Arabian health officials are now sending MERS samples to the United States. Researchers are sure MERS evolved from the bat coronavirus. The samples being sent to the U.S. include samples from bats and other non-human animals.
It’s been revealed that a hospital in Saudi Arabia might be the source for an outbreak that took place in April. The Al-Moosa General Hospital, in Hofuf, saw 22 cases, with ten people dying. No new cases reported since the beginning of May.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it already has MERS samples from sources in the United Kingdom, and has already “….developed MERS-CoV molecular diagnostics and has distributed testing kits to domestic public health laboratories through the Laboratory Response Network as well as to other groups.”
Currently there are about 44 cases worldwide, with 22 deaths.
23 May 2013 (03:40 UTC-07 Tango)/13 Rajab 1434/02 Khordad 1391/14 Ding-Si (4th month) 4711
The first person to become infected in Tunis, became the first to die. The man came back from a trip to Saudi Arabia, sick. His two sons are now sick and under medical observation.
In Saudi Arabia two people have died. One man died on Monday, then (according to some reports) another man died on Wednesday. Health officials also reported a new case of infection in a woman.
The new cases bring the total number of infections, since September 2012, to 43. Deaths at 23.