Stay Away from Camel Milk and Egyptian Tomb Bats

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articl...milk_and_egyptian_tomb_bats_mers_saudi_arabia

Stay Away from Camel Milk and Egyptian Tomb Bats
A deadly SARS-like virus is sweeping the Middle East -- could it go global?

BY Laurie Garrett
APRIL 30, 2014

Anxiety runs deep in Saudi Arabia these days. A SARS-like disease that kills a third of those it infects is suddenly, and mysteriously, surging inside the kingdom. The country is struggling for answers -- and so are its neighbors.

It's called the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and though the majority of the cases have been found in Saudi Arabia, 14 other countries have reported instances. Make that 15: Egypt just reported a case at the end of April....

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Stay Away from Camel Milk and Egyptian Tomb Bats

Well written article but SARS-CoV is quite different from MERS-CoV: they belong to distinct evolutionary lineages, have different animal sources, human receptors cells affinity, pathology, and epidemiological behaviour.

It may be not fully correct to make a parallelism between the possible outcome of current Middle East outbreaks of MERS-CoV and the past, abortive, multi-country spread of SARS-CoV (that is was called a 'pandemic' with a high degree of over-hype, although the impact on Health Care Systems in affected regions was noticeable).

Overall, the international response to SARS was much more tempestive and concerted than to MERS, and this is an indication of how the world changed for the worst since 2003.

gm

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Stay Away from Camel Milk and Egyptian Tomb Bats

Musings after having read the article continue to flow in my mind.

For example.

Today I expressed some doubts (or concerns) about current situation regarding the massive amount of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan.

These people are living in extremely unhealthy and unsanitary conditions, and - as one may wonder - an health agency (not only the WHO, but one among the many other active in EU / US, wealthy countries) would seek among these individuals if some respiratory specimens would be positive for MERS-CoV.

I put my questions on twitter but went unanswered as usual.

If you are seeking a clue in the MERS-CoV quest for clarity on human-to-human spread ability, why do you not search for the virus in these refugees?

Is it possible that Syria has not recorded any known case of MERS-CoV?

Or Iraq?

Or Israel?

Two millions of refugees lay in unbearable conditions amidst general public opinion lack of interest.

Journalists may seek also clue since they can walk freely in 'democratic' Lebanon and Jordan (sic!) or in Israel.

I continue to be amazed of the response I continue to receive to my questions.

Are refugees invisible? Not important? Expendables?

Give me a hint! Everything, but not the deafening silence!