MERS cases rise amid vaccine hope

The Ministry of Health has discovered 11 more people infected with the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, including the first case in Makkah.
Four of the new cases were recorded in Riyadh, six in Jeddah —- the main gateway for pilgrims — and one in Makkah, said a ministry statement.
Eight patients were in intensive care, two were stable, including a 24-year-old Saudi man from Makkah, and one showing no symptoms.
Three of those affected are health care workers, it said.
The latest infections bring the total number of confirmed cases in the Kingdom to 272, of whom 81 have died.
Labor Minister and Acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih, meanwhile, denied press reports that he had called for suspension of school classes to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
“I have not made any such statement,” he said.
He, however, said the ministry was doing everything to protect public health and safety. “We are now in the process of collecting information from experts to assess the real situation and potential dangers.”
Saudi Arabia has seen a jump in MERS infections in recent weeks, with many of the new cases recorded in Jeddah.
Amid rising concern, a Saudi businessman claimed that Bioven, a vaccine developed by an American professor using enzymes derived from poisonous snakes, could be used to treat MERS.
Turki bin Manie, an agent for a foreign medical company, said he would discuss the possibility with health ministry officials.
“It is capable of rebuilding a patient’s immune system to enable him or her to fight the virus,” Al-Manie said about Bioven. He said the medicine could help treat 200 chronic diseases including AIDS.
The outbreak is not an epidemic, a top official at the Haj Ministry was quoted as saying by the local media.
Abdullah Mirghalani, assistant deputy Haj minister, also told the Al-Eqtisadia newspaper that the Health Ministry had not declared the situation an emergency.
He said the Haj Ministry would only act in accordance with decisions made by health authorities.
MERS emerged in the Middle East in 2012 and is from the same family as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, which killed around 800 people worldwide after first appearing in China in 2002.
MERS can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia.
Although the worldwide number of MERS infections is relatively small, the more than 40 percent death rate among confirmed cases and the spread of the virus beyond the Middle East is keeping scientists and public health officials on alert.