Mers coronavirus that killed an Emirati man has origins in both the UAE and Qatar

Article via The National, excerpt :

" A Sars-like virus that killed an Emirati man has origins in both the UAE and Qatar, a report has revealed.

A 73-year-old Abu Dhabi man died in a hospital in Germany on March 26, 11 days after developing flu-like symptoms, which turned out to be the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS-CoV.

A report by experts published in the Lancet medical journal has now said the man died from a strain of the virus similar to that contracted by a man from Qatar, who was treated in Germany six months before the Abu Dhabi man.

Stool samples from the Qatari victim had shown he had a "clustering of viruses derived from Qatar and the UAE".

MERS-CoV has so far killed 38 people worldwide, most of those in Saudi Arabia, but the Health Authority Abu Dhabi has urged the public to remain calm.

One consultant and head of infectious disease at Mafraq Hospital, Dr Asim Malik, said in May: "Ever since we first got the reports of the first few cases in Saudi, we have worked in close collaboration with Health Authority Abu Dhabi and Seha.

"It's not just Mafraq Hospital but all Seha healthcare facilities, namely Sheikh Khalifa Medical City and Tawam.

"We met and developed … guidelines and protocols that were put in place in preparation and anticipation of suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus."

The Abu Dhabi victim had been transferred by air ambulance to the Klinikum Schwabing hospital in Munich from a hospital in Abu Dhabi on March 19.

He died of septic shock seven days later after his kidneys failed, becoming the 11th person to die from the virus."