Saudi Arabia: Mysterious virus kills young man in Taif

[Shiloh]

Source: http://biomedme.com/general/mysterious-virus-kills-young-man-in-taif_22357.html

Mysterious virus kills young man in Taif
Written By: ameilia on November 23, 2010 0

A mysterious, undiagnosed virus has killed a young man in Taif, sent his relative to the intensive care unit and led 13 people from the same family to get checked to ensure they are not affected by the virus.

Relatives of Yousif Al-Thaqfi, who expressed concerns about his treatment, said he is on an artificial respiratory system and ventilator. Doctors who examined him said he is suffering from a ?unknown? virus, they added...

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: Saudi Arabia: Mysterious virus kills young man in Taif

"undiagnosed virus has killed a young man in Taif, sent his relative to the intensive care unit"

Note that at least two family members have been infected and one died.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Saudi Arabia: Mysterious virus kills young man in Taif

Sent to ProMED.

 

[alert]

Re: Saudi Arabia: Mysterious virus kills young man in Taif

Could be almost anything. No symptoms are mentioned. The is a tendancy to think this might be a respiratory illness (H1N1? H5N1?) due to the fact that the surviving case is on a respirator, but he is critically ill, so the respiratory failure could easily be a terminal result of some other illness. We also have no idea as to the timing - did the two cases take ill at the same time?

The article also mentions poor quality care, so the fact that the "virus" has not been identified may not be significant.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Saudi Arabia: Mysterious virus kills young man in Taif

I agree. I sent to ProMED as an fyi.