Health Alert: 16 times deadlier virus than COVID detected

Following a recent instance involving a guy in his late twenties from Abu Dhabi, there is rising concern about the spread of one of the world’s most fatal diseases, particularly in the Middle East.

After getting MERS, a virus that is 16 times deadlier than COVID-19, the 28-year-old guy had a near-death experience in a hospital.

To prevent the disease from spreading among individuals, UAE officials from both Abu Dhabi and Dubai are working feverishly to control the infection.

MERS, which stands for Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, is feared because it is thought to kill one out of every three persons infected, with a fatality rate of 35%.

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MERS is typically transferred through camel contact. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the sick individual had no contact with camels, goats, or sheep, all of which are known carriers of the virus.

According to a WHO report, the UAE notified the United Nations organisation about the case on July 10.

The specifics of how the man contracted the infection remain unknown. Despite having no known health issues, the individual became ill, and officials were forced to check on over 100 others he had contact with.

Despite being monitored for two weeks, none of these contacts tested positive for the virus. The investigation into how the man developed MERS is still ongoing.

The WHO, on the other hand, issued a warning that more MERS cases could be on the way. The organisation is still keeping a close eye on the issue and has requested its member states to look for any strange tendencies.

According to the UN agency’s report, the patient was admitted to the hospital on June 9th. On June 21, a throat and nose swab test was performed, and the results came back positive for MERS two days later.

MERS, sometimes known as camel flu, typically begins with symptoms similar to a regular cold. It can, however, swiftly progress to pneumonia and kidney failure, both of which can be fatal.

MERS is caused by the same virus family that caused the COVID-19 epidemic. It is spread by touching infected camels or humans. However, virus specialists do not fully understand how this virus spreads.