MERS Spreads to Egypt

Egyptian health officials have identified the country's first case of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) after a man returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia yesterday.

The Middle East News Agency (MENA), a state run Egyptian news organization, reported on Saturday that a 27 year old man was officially diagnosed with MERS after having been immediately quarantined and hospitalized upon his arrival at Cairo airport on Friday. Passengers who shared the plane with this man have been subjected to screenings for the MERS virus, which may not percent itself immediately for days if not weeks.

This incident occurs less than three days after the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed its extreme concern that  the MERS virus would soon begin to appear in other countries through international travel.

According to the WHO, as of Wednesday there have been 253 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS since the deadly viral infection first appeared in the Middle East in the Spring of 2012. According to MENA, the Saudi Arabia Health Ministry declared on Friday that their country alone has seen 313 confirmed and suspected cases of the virus, resulting in 92 deaths since 2012. The WHO reports that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have seen the highest number of outbreaks of MERS.

MERS is a deadly viral-born respiratory infection that often causes fever, difficulty breathing, pneumonia, and even kidney failure. As the virus is still very new to the scientific community, there are no known treatments of vaccinations for a MERS viral infection.

The WHO announced on Wednesday that it would be taking action to investigate the "transmission chain" of the most recent MERS outbreaks in the hope of determining what actions can be taken to prevent the virus from spreading to new countries. In the meantime, the international organization has asked that countries take extra precautions when receiving travelers who are returning from the Middle East.

The MENA report was published on April 26.