The World Health Organization (WHO) has been on pins and needles this year due to the rising death count from ‘Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI)’ (a strand of the more commonly referred to as MERS-CoV) outbreak throughout the Middle East.

The WHO has had a total of 58 laboratory-confirmed cases of the infection; of those 33 have perished globally since the outbreak was first detected in September 2012. Just this week in Saudi Arabia a 21-year old young man from Hafar Al-Batin governorate died.

It has been reported by the WHO that many of the laboratory-confirmed cases have originated in Middle Eastern countries such as: Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Due to modern globalized travel this infection has spread via human- to- human contact, hence France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom have also reported laboratory-confirmed cases.

Patients should be tested for MERS-CoV infection, if they are considered in conjunction with atypical signs and symptoms, such as diarrhea; and/or have traveled to or been in close proximity to someone who has recently spent time in the Middle East.