Kissin’ Camels / MERS

[aris2chat]

Somehow kissing the camel will immunize, but camel carry the disease and can transfer it to humans

Kissin’ Camels

Posted by: Aussie Dave May 18, 2014

Saudi farmers have taken to kissing camels.
Kissin? Camels | Israellycool

MERS is very scary. This week, while avoiding the term global health emergency, the World Health Organisation announced that the deadly viral infection was both serious and urgent. So far, there have been 571 confirmed cases of MERS; 171 of those people died from the disease.

There’s one place, however, where the mood about MERS isn’t scaring everyone. It’s also the place where the infection was first reported in 2012 and where almost 500 recorded cases have been found so far: Saudi Arabia.

And the scepticism about the virus has taken a strange turn in Saudi Arabia, where people have begun kissing camels in response to MERS.

“Do sneeze in my face,” the farmer says in a video clip, according to a translation from Gulf News. “They claim camels carry the coronavirus,” he continues in the video, which has been watched over 11,000 times.

On Twitter, photographs of men kissing and stroking their camels have been accompanied with comments disparaging MERS:

 

[Roudy]

Somehow kissing the camel will immunize, but camel carry the disease and can transfer it to humans

Kissin’ Camels

Posted by: Aussie Dave May 18, 2014

Saudi farmers have taken to kissing camels.
Kissin? Camels | Israellycool

MERS is very scary. This week, while avoiding the term global health emergency, the World Health Organisation announced that the deadly viral infection was both serious and urgent. So far, there have been 571 confirmed cases of MERS; 171 of those people died from the disease.

There’s one place, however, where the mood about MERS isn’t scaring everyone. It’s also the place where the infection was first reported in 2012 and where almost 500 recorded cases have been found so far: Saudi Arabia.

And the scepticism about the virus has taken a strange turn in Saudi Arabia, where people have begun kissing camels in response to MERS.

“Do sneeze in my face,” the farmer says in a video clip, according to a translation from Gulf News. “They claim camels carry the coronavirus,” he continues in the video, which has been watched over 11,000 times.

On Twitter, photographs of men kissing and stroking their camels have been accompanied with comments disparaging MERS:

Kissing is not all they do.

 

[waltky]

Globe-trotting healthcare workers could spread MERS...

Foreign Doctors, Nurses in Saudi Arabia Could Take MERS Global
May 18, 2014 — The biggest risk that Middle East Respiratory Syndrome will become a global epidemic, ironically, may lie with globe-trotting healthcare workers.

From Houston to Manila, doctors and nurses are recruited for lucrative postings in Saudi Arabia, where MERS was first identified in 2012. Because the kingdom has stepped up hiring of foreign healthcare professionals in the last few years, disease experts said, there is a good chance the MERS virus will hitch a ride on workers as they return home. “This is how MERS might spread around the world,” said infectious disease expert Dr Amesh Adalja of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. It can take five to 14 days for someone infected with MERS to show symptoms, more than enough time for a contagious person to fly to the other side of the world without being detectable.

Muslim pilgrims wears surgical masks to help prevent infection from a respiratory virus known as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Healthcare workers “are at extremely high risk of contracting MERS compared to the general public,” Adalja said. The threat has attracted new attention with the confirmation of the first two MERS cases in the United States. Both are healthcare workers who fell ill shortly after leaving their work in Saudi hospitals and boarding planes bound west. About one-third of the MERS cases treated in hospitals in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah were healthcare workers, according to the World Health Organization. Despite the risk, few of the healthcare workers now in, or planning to go to, Saudi Arabia are having second thoughts about working there, according to nurses, doctors and recruiters interviewed by Reuters.

Michelle Tatro, 28, leaves next week for the kingdom, where she will work as an open-heart-surgery nurse. Tatro, who typically does 13-week stints at hospitals around the United States, said her family had sent her articles about MERS, but she wasn't worried. “I was so glad to get this job,” she told Reuters. “Travel is my number one passion.” So far, international health authorities have not publicly expressed concern about the flow of expatriate medical workers to and from Saudi Arabia. “There is not much public health authorities or border agents can do,” said infectious disease expert Dr Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota. “Sure, they can ask people, 'did you work in a healthcare facility in Saudi Arabia,' but if the answer is yes, then what?”

Healthcare workers are best placed to understand the MERS risk, Osterholm said, and “there should be a heightened awareness among them of possible MERS symptoms.” Neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to questions about whether they were considering monitoring healthcare workers returning to the United States.

Soaring demand

 

[Sunni Man]

Somehow kissing the camel will immunize, but camel carry the disease and can transfer it to humans

Kissin’ Camels

Posted by: Aussie Dave May 18, 2014

Saudi farmers have taken to kissing camels.
Kissin? Camels | Israellycool

MERS is very scary. This week, while avoiding the term global health emergency, the World Health Organisation announced that the deadly viral infection was both serious and urgent. So far, there have been 571 confirmed cases of MERS; 171 of those people died from the disease.

There’s one place, however, where the mood about MERS isn’t scaring everyone. It’s also the place where the infection was first reported in 2012 and where almost 500 recorded cases have been found so far: Saudi Arabia.

And the scepticism about the virus has taken a strange turn in Saudi Arabia, where people have begun kissing camels in response to MERS.

“Do sneeze in my face,” the farmer says in a video clip, according to a translation from Gulf News. “They claim camels carry the coronavirus,” he continues in the video, which has been watched over 11,000 times.

On Twitter, photographs of men kissing and stroking their camels have been accompanied with comments disparaging MERS:

Kissing is not all they do.

Don't be such a hater......as long as they love each other.......why should it matter?? ..

 

[aris2chat]

Somehow kissing the camel will immunize, but camel carry the disease and can transfer it to humans

Kissin’ Camels

Posted by: Aussie Dave May 18, 2014

Saudi farmers have taken to kissing camels.
Kissin? Camels | Israellycool

MERS is very scary. This week, while avoiding the term global health emergency, the World Health Organisation announced that the deadly viral infection was both serious and urgent. So far, there have been 571 confirmed cases of MERS; 171 of those people died from the disease.

There’s one place, however, where the mood about MERS isn’t scaring everyone. It’s also the place where the infection was first reported in 2012 and where almost 500 recorded cases have been found so far: Saudi Arabia.

And the scepticism about the virus has taken a strange turn in Saudi Arabia, where people have begun kissing camels in response to MERS.

“Do sneeze in my face,” the farmer says in a video clip, according to a translation from Gulf News. “They claim camels carry the coronavirus,” he continues in the video, which has been watched over 11,000 times.

On Twitter, photographs of men kissing and stroking their camels have been accompanied with comments disparaging MERS:

Kissing is not all they do.

Don't be such a hater......as long as they love each other.......why should it matter?? ..

and do you practice bestiality?

Camels in Northern Africa have been found to carry the virus, not just the camels In Saudi Arabia. This could become a pandemic through Africa.

It is treatable if caught early, but in Africa those infected my not realize and wait till it hits the lungs by then it is too late for the meds to heal.

 

[Roudy]

Somehow kissing the camel will immunize, but camel carry the disease and can transfer it to humans

Kissin’ Camels

Posted by: Aussie Dave May 18, 2014

Saudi farmers have taken to kissing camels.
Kissin? Camels | Israellycool

MERS is very scary. This week, while avoiding the term global health emergency, the World Health Organisation announced that the deadly viral infection was both serious and urgent. So far, there have been 571 confirmed cases of MERS; 171 of those people died from the disease.

There’s one place, however, where the mood about MERS isn’t scaring everyone. It’s also the place where the infection was first reported in 2012 and where almost 500 recorded cases have been found so far: Saudi Arabia.

And the scepticism about the virus has taken a strange turn in Saudi Arabia, where people have begun kissing camels in response to MERS.

“Do sneeze in my face,” the farmer says in a video clip, according to a translation from Gulf News. “They claim camels carry the coronavirus,” he continues in the video, which has been watched over 11,000 times.

On Twitter, photographs of men kissing and stroking their camels have been accompanied with comments disparaging MERS:

Kissing is not all they do.

Don't be such a hater......as long as they love each other.......why should it matter?? ..

Hey none of my business what you Mooooslems do. To each his own.

 

[waltky]

30% death rate...

Hospitals on Watch for MERS, Plan for Emergencies
May 23, 2014 ~ Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, has infected more than 500 people since it was first identified in 2012. About 30 percent of those who contract it die. The steep increase in the number of cases in recent months, and the fact that people in Asia, Europe and North America have come down with the virus, have raised concern that the situation may worsen.

The last pandemic occurred in 2009, with the H1N1 influenza virus. The World Health Organization says MERS is a long way from becoming a pandemic. Most cases have been in Saudi Arabia, among people with close contact with MERS patients or with camels that carry the virus. However, a virus can change at any time, so officials like Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, who heads the Illinois department of public health, say there is need for concern. "It's a new virus. It has a very high death rate, but we need to learn more about how easily it's transmitted, and what are some of the signs and symptoms," said Hasbrouck.

Many hospitals already have plans to prevent the virus from spreading. At The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, it's Dr. Gabe Kelen's responsibility to ensure the plan covers all of the 46,000 people at the clinics and medical centers, as well as the university. “I’m not that concerned yet, however, for our level of preparation; we want to stay ahead of the curve. That should this happen; we’re not playing catch-up," said Kelen.

This is not just for MERS, but for any contagious disease. "When anyone comes into the emergency department with an influenza-like illness, we already have a protocol to screen them and to test them and if we believe they may have a serious infection, they get isolated, they get a mask. Anyone who goes in after to deal with that patient has certain precautions," he said. Doctors, nurses, even the cleaning staff, might have to wear gowns, gloves and special masks.

During the H1N1 influenza pandemic, hospitals set up special clinics, some in tents outside the building, to diagnose patients suspected of having the flu. This practice could be reinstated to prevent the spread of a virus, and lower the chance it could mutate into something even more deadly. “The more often it [a virus] gets transmitted, the more the virus replicates. The more the virus replicates and in different hosts, the more likely its genetic makeup may change," said Kelen.

After the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, more than a decade ago, the world learned that an infectious disease anywhere is a health challenge everywhere, largely because of air travel. Countries learned they had to share information about diseases in order to control them. Later this year, Saudi Arabia will host millions of religious pilgrims. Health officials the world over will be carefully watching.

Hospitals on Watch for MERS, Plan for Emergencies

 

[waltky]

MERS spreads to Iran...

IRAN REPORTS ITS FIRST 2 CASES OF MERS VIRUS
May. 28, 2014 — Iranian media say the country has recorded its first two cases of the potentially fatal Middle East respiratory virus, first reported in Saudi Arabia two years ago.

The kingdom has been the focal point of the outbreak of the virus, known as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

Iran's Hamshahri daily on Wednesday quoted health ministry official Mohammad Mahdi Gouya as saying the virus was confirmed in two sisters in Kerman in southeastern Iran. One was reported to be in critical condition. Gouya says there are also two other suspected cases, from the same family as the sisters.

About 600 people have had the illness and about 175 people have died. MERS belongs to the coronavirus family that includes the common cold and SARS, which caused some 800 deaths in 2003.

Iran reports its first 2 cases of MERS virus

 

[aris2chat]

Mecca has been infected.
The Kaaba is also being cleaned before the hajj. I lot of people will be kissing or touching the silver cap around the stone. This virus could be spread world wide when the hajj ends.

 

[waltky]

Spike in number of Saudi MERS deaths...

Saudi MERS Data Review Reveals Spike in Number of Deaths
June 03, 2014 — Saudi Arabia announced a jump of nearly 50 percent in deaths from a new virus on Tuesday after re-examining old data that also showed the number of infections since 2012 was a fifth higher than previously reported.

The increase in total confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [MERS] to 688 from 575, and the rise in deaths from the virus to 282 from 190, came in a review of data ordered by the Health Ministry last month. The sharp increase in deaths now attributed to MERS, which causes coughing, fever and pneumonia in some, means the mortality rate from the virus in Saudi Arabia is now 41 percent, instead of the 33 percent previously thought.

However, the ministry said that although the total number of historical cases had risen, the rate of infection in the most recent outbreak appeared to be slowing. Of the total, 53 patients were still being treated, while 353 had recovered, the statement said. “While the review has resulted in higher total number of previously unreported cases, we still see a decline in the number of new cases reported over the past few weeks,” Tariq Madani, head of the Health Ministry's scientific advisory board, was quoted as saying in an emailed statement.

A man with mask speaks on his mobile phone in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

New measure

The Health Ministry said it had put in place new measures to make sure better data gathering, reporting and transparency were being observed, including standardization of testing and better guidelines for labeling and storing samples. On Monday, acting health minister Adel Fakieh announced he had relieved deputy minister Ziad Memish from his post. Fakieh was appointed in April after King Abdullah sacked his predecessor Abdullah al-Rabeeah following a new MERS outbreak.

Saudi authorities, including Memish, had been criticized by some international scientists for their handling of the crisis, including what they saw as a lack of collaboration with specialist laboratories offering to help investigate the outbreak. “Clearly any backward look will push the total numbers up but that does not signify any change in the virus, only previous under-reporting,” said Ian Jones, a virologist at Britain's University of Reading. “Infectious disease does not respect country, cultural or religious boundaries, so absolute clarity and the adoption of best practice for isolation and treatment are the most effective means of minimizing numbers until such time as the source and route of infection are identified and avoided,” he added.

The Health Ministry said on Sunday it had set up a new command and control center to tackle MERS and any future public health crisis more effectively. The new center will work with the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control, it said.

Saudi MERS Data Review Reveals Spike in Number of Deaths

 

[aris2chat]

Come October and it could truly turn into a global pandemic. Muslims had best get vaccinated if it is approved for human use before then, and not refuse it like they did the polio for so long.
Lets hope Purdue and the CDC can find fourth gear and step on the gas for this one