An 82-year-old man from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been hospitalized in Abu Dhabi with a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, the first patient to be diagnosed and treated within the UAE, according to reports from local media.
The UAE's state news agency Wam said the man was being treated for multiple myeloma when he was diagnosed, The National, an English-language newspaper based in Abu Dhabi. reported today. The latest illness raises the global total to 82 cases, of which 45 have been fatal.
Though most MERS-CoV cases have been reported from Saudi Arabia, one patient was an Emirati man who died in Germany in late March after he was diagnosed and treated there. That patient was a 73-year-old man who had an underlying illness.
A 65-year-old Frenchman who had traveled to the UAE died in May after his return to France.
In other developments, Saudi Arabia's health ministry today updated its health advice for people making Umrah and Hajj pilgrimages, according to report in Arabic flagged by FluTrackers, an international infectious disease message board.
The health ministry urged older people and those with underlying medical conditions such as heart or kidney disease to postpone their visits this year as a precaution in response to the emergence of MERS-CoV.
The ministry also urged pregnant women and children to postpone making the pilgrimages.
Earlier this year the country asked domestic and foreign Muslim pilgrims to postpone their Hajj and Umrah visits this year due to construction at Mecca's Grand Mosque. The move sparked speculation that MERS-CoV may have played a role in the government's request.
See also:
Jul 12 National story
Jul 12 FluTrackers thread
