Manchester Royal Infirmary has closed its Accident & Emergency, or ‘Casualty’ department after suspecting two patients of having the Middle Eastern Respiratory Virus Syndrome, or MERS.
MERS was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, but has since taken the lives of hundreds of people across the world, including in South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, the United Kingdom, and Germany. America’s Centre for Disease Control says: “It is possible that some people became infected after having contact with camels.”
According to the Press Association, two patients have been isolated at the Manchester hospital. A statement from the local governing trust said: “We would like to reassure our patients and the general public that there is no significant risk to public health… Manchester Royal Infirmary accident and emergency department will be closed until further notice while further investigations take place.”
Last month, the Public Health England body told Breitbart London that Britain was “ready for MERS” if an outbreak occurred. There have been four cases of MERS in the UK, all in 2012-13, when the virus was first discovered. Of these four, three died – a 75 per cent mortality rate.
The World Health Organisation says:
A typical case of MERS includes of fever, cough, and/or shortness of breath. Pneumonia is a common finding on examination. Gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhoea, have also been reported. Severe disease from MERS-CoV infection can cause respiratory failure that requires mechanical ventilation and support in an intensive-care unit. Some patients have had organ failure, especially of the kidneys, or septic shock. The virus appears to cause more severe disease in people with weakened immune systems, older people, and those with such chronic diseases as diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease.
It is contagious, but only after prolonged or intimate contact without proper cleanliness procedures. Around 40 per cent of those diagnosed with MERS have died.
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