By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — A female Negrense nurse was placed under quarantine in a hospital in Saudi Arabia on suspicion that she was infected by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome–Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
She was confined in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital where she works, according to her husband, who requested to be identified only as Toto.
“A tube was inserted in her lungs,” said Toto, who strongly believes his wife will soon be able to recover.
Before his wife was quarantined, he said, another Filipina nurse in the same hospital recovered after being diagnosed with MERS.
Toto said the hospital is known for its complete and modern medical facilities. “I was assured that my wife is being taken care of by her friends and coworkers.”
Several Emergency Room nurses have also been quarantined, he said.
“Once my wife recovers,” said Toto, “I will not let her return and work again in Saudi Arabia if doing so would only put her life in danger.”
Saudi Arabia’s health ministry has set three special centers across the country to deal with MERS cases.
These are King Abdullah Medical Complex in Jeddah, Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Hospital in Riyadh and Dammam Medical Complex in Eastern Region.
Health authorities in Saudi Arabia recently announced two new deaths caused by MERS-CoV, raising to 111 the number of fatalities since the disease appeared in the kingdom in September 2012.
A 25-year-old man died in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah and a woman of 69, who suffered from tuberculosis and anemia, died in Mecca, also in western Saudi Arabia, said the health ministry.
At the same time, 35 new cases of the severe respiratory disease have been recorded, raising the number of sufferers in the Gulf state over the past two years to 396, the world’s highest tally.
On Friday, United States health officials confirmed the first case of MERS in the country.
MERS-CoV is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of SARS virus, which erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.
There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments for MERS, a disease with a mortality rate of more than 40 percent. (With AFP/PN)
