ProMED: UK - One Fatality #Coronavirus #MERS

This is the case that is referred to below:

Date Report:  9/22

Name:  Male (49)

From:  Qatar

Notes:  Travelled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Onset:  9/3 respiratory sym’s

Adm:  9/11 Transferred to UK via air ambulance

Adm:  9/7 ICU, in Doha, Qatar

Notes:  developed renal failure.  Still hospitalized as of 2/13/13.

Confirmation:  9/21

From ProMED
Published Date: 2013-07-03 19:25:39
Archive Number: 20130703.1803607
In this update:
[1] Saudi Arabia - 2 fatalities
[2] UK - one fatality


[2] UK - one fatality
Date: 3 Jul 2013
Source: UK Telegraph [edited]
Excerpt:
A man being treated in a London hospital for a lethal, SARS-like Middle Eastern virus has died. The man, a Qatari national, had been admitted to a private clinic in London in September [2012] before being transferred to the specialist centre at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital.

He was diagnosed as suffering from the MERS virus -- Middle East Respiratory Syndrome -- which has affected 77 people worldwide, with 43 deaths.

"Guy's and St Thomas' can confirm that the patient with severe respiratory illness due to novel coronavirus [MERS-CoV] sadly died on Friday [28 Jun 2013], after his condition deteriorated, despite every effort and full supportive treatment," said Robin Wilkinson, a spokesman for the hospital.

The death of the Qatari man brings to 3 the number of victims who have died in the UK.

In February [2013], 2 members of the same family died from the virus. One, a 39-year-old man, died in Birmingham having picked up the virus from his father, who had recently travelled to Saudi Arabia. The father then died around a month later in Manchester's Wythenshaw hospital. A female relative was also treated for mild MERS symptoms, raising fears of human-to-human [transmission].

The disease is spread by people coughing or sneezing and can cause breathing difficulties, lung damage and pneumonia.

"We still don't know exactly what killed him," said Dr Jon Bible, a virus expert at Guy's and St Thomas'. "In the end, his lungs were worn down, so secondary infection is the real problem. The virus effectively turns your lungs to jelly."

Known cases of the illness have quadrupled since April 2013, and it is deadlier than SARS, which killed 774 people in 2003. SARS killed one in 10 affected people; MERS has proved fatal in 65 per cent of cases.

Continued:  http://beta.promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20130703.1803607