No cause for concern?

LITTLE concern appears to be shown in Bahrain about the new Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus which has caused heartache and havoc across the causeway.

Handlers in Saudi Arabia now wear masks and take precautionary measures when handling the animals. Here in Bahrain, they are herded along the busy commuter route of Budaiya Highway where a young man sells camel milk for BD1-a-bag from the side of the road and families with young children stop off to pet and take photographs of the creatures.

There have been no recorded cases in Bahrain of MERS, also known as MERS-CoV, which has infected 691 people and killed at least 284 of them in Saudi Arabia alone since it first emerged in 2012.

A Saudi man who became infected with and died of the virus contracted the disease from a camel in his own herd which was also sick, scientists said last week.

In a study which reinforces the case against camels as the prime suspects for transmitting the deadly virus from the animal world into people, researchers said that in this case it was highly likely the animal’s nasal secretions were to blame.

Sporadic cases of the disease, which is caused by a virus from the same family as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS, have also been reported across the Middle East region, as well as in Europe, Asia and the United States.

Documenting the case of a 44-year-old previously healthy Saudi man who died of MERS, Saudi scientists led by Tariq Madani said their analysis suggested a so-called zoonotic event – when a virus circulating in animals makes a jump into the human population.

“The patient had applied a topical medicine in the nose of one of the ill camels seven days before onset of the patient’s illness,” they wrote in the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Genetic analysis of samples taken from the victim and from the camel in question – a one-humped or dromedary camel in a herd of nine owned by the patient – suggested the virus had passed directly from the animal to the man, they concluded.

Infectious disease experts not directly involved in the study said its findings added to a growing body of evidence that camels are a likely source of the outbreak.

A study published in August 2013 was among the first to suggest camels in the Middle East may be an animal reservoir for MERS virus infections, which can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia in people.

Experts cautioned, however, that scientists in the region should not stop searching for other potential animal sources, or stop investigating cases of human-to-human transmission.

“Several research groups have shown that this virus can be found in camels (and in bats) and that camel-to-human transmission of MERS-CoV is likely, but how do we explain infection in other patients outside of hospital outbreaks?” said Dunning.

“We really need detailed epidemiological studies in affected countries, including carefully conducted case-control studies. At the same time, we should continue to look for other animal and environmental reservoirs of the virus.”
The Saudi health ministry, which has come in for criticism from international scientists and public health experts, said on Sunday it had set up a new command and control centre to try to tackle MERS more effectively.