Appeal to passengers as man with camel f lu flies to UK
Middle East man at Manchester Airport is first case of illness in UK since 2013
A MAN has been diagnosed with the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, the first such case in England since 2013.
Health officials said a patient who was initially admitted to a hospital in Leeds had been transferred to Royal Liverpool Hospital, which treats respiratory infectious diseases.
The man is believed to have fallen ill after flying to Britain from the Middle East, where he lives. Officials are attempting to trace passengers who sat in the six rows surrounding him. He was on flight SV123 from Jeddah to Manchester on Aug 16. Public Health England (PHE) said the risk of transmission to the general population was low.
Typically MERS symptoms include fever, coughing and shortness of breath. As a precaution, those who have been in proximity will be contacted and monitored to ensure that if they do become unwell they can be treated quickly, officials said.
Globally, a third of patients with MERS have died. The virus was dubbed camel flu as evidence emerged that humans could contract it from infected camels. But there are concerns it can also spread between humans and via airborne transmission.
MERS-COV (the virus that causes MERS) can be spread when someone is in close contact with a patient for a sustained period of time but there was a “very low” risk to the general population.
Dr Jenny Harries, PHE’S deputy medical director, said: “It is important to emphasise that although a case has been identified, the overall risk of disease transmission to the public is very low.
“As we’ve seen in previous cases, we have well established and robust infection control procedures for dealing with cases of imported infectious disease.” PHE said anyone showing symptoms of MERS after travel in the Middle East should contact health services via their doctor or NHS 111.
Healthcare professionals were being advised to remain vigilant for any severe unexplained respiratory illnesses occurring in anyone who had recently travelled into the UK from the Middle East, particularly in light of increased traffic associated with the Hajj.
First identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012, MERS is a viral respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus (Mers-cov) that was named Middle East Respiratory Syndrome because of the origin of the first cases.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause diseases ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
More than 80 per cent of these cases have so far occurred in Saudi Arabia, according to the World Health Organisation.
More recently, there have been outbreaks of MERS in South Korea and China.
A spokesman for the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust said: “We are treating a patient who has MERS. The patient is being cared for on our specialist infectious and tropical diseases unit, by specialist and highly trained staff experienced in dealing with infectious diseases.
“There is no risk to other patients or visitors. We ask people to use our services as normal and come to our emergency department only if their condition is serious and/or an emergency.”