MERS snuffs out 6 more lives

The MERS coronavirus has killed a further six people and infected three others, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.
MERS has now killed 186 since September 2012, with most of the deaths taking place over the past few months in the Kingdom.
Two of the patients who died were from Makkah, a 65-year-old man with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and a 39-year-old woman suffering from diabetes, hypertension, and systemic lupus erythematosus. She was also a steroid user.
The four other casualties were two men in Madinah, 36 and 51, and two women in Riyadh aged 55 and 80.
Meanwhile, Acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih visited Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Hospital in the east of Riyadh on Wednesday. The hospital is one of the three major centers established for the treatment. The minister met with patients and spoke to health officials treating them. He said the Kingdom is working closely with the WHO to control the virus.
Separately, veterinary experts meeting in Paris said scientists lack proof that camels are the source of the deadly virus.
“We know nothing on a potential transmission mode between camels and humans, neither on food products from camels which could be involved,” Bernard Vallat, director general of the World Organization for Animal Health, told a news conference.