Blogs by Frank P Ryan
New dangerous virus on the go
1/3/2016 1:05:35 AM
Emerging viruses are viruses that spring a surprise on us by entering the human species for the first time. Some can be very dangerous indeed, such as HIV-1 or Ebola. This is to let folks know a new one is on the way.
A viral disease new to humanity has emerged in the Middle East and is potentially lethal. It's called the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, or MERS-CoV. It causes severe respiratory disease, with coughing, high temperature and shortness of breath - the sort of symptoms we see in pneumonia. So far, all cases of MERS have been linked through travel to or residence in countries in and near the Arabian Peninsula. The largest known outbreak of MERS outside the Arabian Peninsula occurred in the Republic of Korea in 2015. The outbreak was associated with a traveller returning from the Arabian Peninsula.
There is no vaccine to date and no specific treatment, though no doubt trials will be taking place of antiviral drugs. Otherwise patients are treated by isolation and intensive therapy support. So far some three out of four cases have resulted in death.
The CDC has issued a summary that can be found here:
http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/a...
I travelled extensively to research emerging viruses back in the 1990s and wrote a book, Virus X, on this theme which was an Amazon.com bestseller. The emergence of the MERS-CoV is illustrative that the problem hasn't changed or gone away. This is why I recently released the book as a kindle.
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