Third MERS Death Confirmed in Qatar

The official number of deaths from the coronavirus in Qatar has now climbed to three following the death of an expatriate living in the Gulf state who had earlier contracted MERS, health authorities said Tuesday.

The 61-year-old man had also suffered from "chronic illnesses," said Qatar's Supreme Council of Health in a statement published by the official QNA news agency.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome - Causes Diagnosis Treatment Complications FAQ
ARDS is a lung condition where the patient suffers from sudden breathlessness, low blood oxygen levels and lung inflammation that could progress to respiratory failure.

Another foreign man, aged 48, who had contracted the virus, was discharged from a Qatar hospital after being successfully treated for three weeks, the same statement said.

Neither of the two men were identified.

In September, Qatar announced two other deaths from MERS of a man and a woman.

Respiratory Diseases - Diseases of the Human Respiratory System
Respiratory diseases affect any part of the respiratory system. Some of the lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can lead to respiratory failure.

The World Health Organisation said earlier this month that it has been informed of 153 laboratory-confirmed MERS cases worldwide so far, including 64 deaths, most of them in Saudi Arabia.

Experts are struggling to understand the disease, for which there is no vaccine.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
SARS is a viral respiratory disease caused by SARS-associated coronavirus.

It is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

Like SARS, MERS appears to cause a lung infection, with patients suffering from a temperature, coughing and breathing difficulties.

First MERS Virus Case Found in Kuwait, MERS Patient Critically Ill
Kuwait's health ministry said it has discovered the first case of the MERS coronavirus in Kuwait and that the infected citizen suffering from MERS is in 'critical condition.'

But it differs in that it also causes rapid kidney failure, and the extremely high death rate has caused serious concern.

In August, researchers pointed to Arabian camels as possible hosts of the virus.

And the Saudi government said on November 11 that a camel in the kingdom has tested positive for MERS, the first case of an animal infected with the coronavirus.

Source-AFP