Coverup? Bisha man ‘dies from swine flu’ or was it MERS, returning home from Mecca following an Umrah trip.

Coverup? Bisha man ‘dies from swine flu’ or was it MERS, returning home from Mecca following an Umrah trip.(SaudiGazette).

A citizen from the southern city of Bisha has died of swine flu after returning home from Makkah following an Umrah trip during the just-concluded month of Ramadan, his family has alleged.

They told Al-Hayat newspaper on Tuesday that the Ministry of Health has not issued any statement about the death of Hamoud Al-Nashiri as of Monday.

His brother Saad said Hamoud died on the second day of Eid from the disease.

“My brother started suffering from the symptoms of the disease after his return home from Makkah.

“We took him to King Abdullah Hospital in Bisha but he was not given any proper medical attention.”

The brother also accused the hospital’s department of preventive medicine of ignoring routine medical examinations that are usually carried out on people who have accompanied patients who die from such diseases. “The department did not take blood samples from us to find out if we have contracted the disease or not.”

Saad said his brother’s wife started displaying symptoms of swine flu before his death.

“We brought her to the hospital but they could not find a suitable bed for her, so she was secluded in an unsuitable room in an outside building.

“Her blood samples were taken on Friday but they were only sent to the lab on Sunday.”

He said Hamoud’s brother-in-law, who stayed with him until his death, was not yet examined to see if he got the disease.

The newspaper said it tried to repeatedly contact Bisha Health Affairs spokesman Abdullah Al-Ghamdi but he did not respond.

Medical sources in Bisha said a statement on Al-Nashiri’s death was delayed because most of the hospital staff were away because of the Eid holidays.

Hmmm......Related:  

Saudi Arabia: Two weeks without a MERS announcement

China reports 4 more H7N9 infections bringing total to 7, two confirmed dead.

China reports 4 more H7N9 infections bringing total to 7, two confirmed dead.(Cidrap).By Lisa Schnirring.Chinese health officials today reported that the H7N9 influenza virus has been detected in four more people, all in critical condition, raising the number of patients infected with the new strain to seven.

All of the patients are from Jiangsu province, an area on China's eastern coast that borders the city of Shanghai and Anhui province, the two areas that reported the first three H7N9 cases, which included the deaths of two men from Shanghai.

A statement today from the Jiangsu Province Health Department, identified and translated this morning by the Avian Flu Diary blog, said all four patients—three women and a man—are in critical condition at hospitals in Nanjing, Wujiang, and Wuxi.

One is a 45-year-old woman from Jiangning district who worked as a poultry slaughterer. She became ill with a fever, body aches, and other symptoms on Mar 19 and was hospitalized on Mar 27. The second patient, a 48-year-old woman from the city of Suqian who is a sheet metal worker, got sick with similar symptoms on Mar 19 and was hospitalized on Mar 30.

The man who was infected is an 83-year-old resident of Suzhou Wujiang district who came down with a fever and respiratory symptoms on Mar 20 and was hospitalized on Mar 29. The fourth patient is a 32-year-old woman from the city of Wuxi who is unemployed. She started having a cough, fever, and other symptoms on Mar 21 and was hospitalized on Mar 28.

The Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention detected the H7N9 virus in samples from the patients, and tests at China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) lab confirmed the results for the first two cases. Yesterday Chinese health officials said the source of the infections is probably poultry. The H7N9 virus has previously infected only birds, though other H7 subtypes have been known to infect humans, typically causing conjunctivitis and mild respiratory symptoms.

In another statement today, the CHP said it activated Hong Kong's pandemic alert response level, which triggers certain surveillance and control measures. The alert level is the lowest response category. The next level is serious, and the highest is the emergency level.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today published a frequently-asked-questions resource about H7N9 on its Web page, which emphasized that so far health officials have found no evidence of human-to-human spread, though investigators are exploring all possible sources. "The risk associated with A (H7N9) avian influenza virus to the general population in China and beyond is being investigated and will be shared to the public when information becomes available," the WHO said. Read the full story here.

New mysterious 'Bat' respiratory virus on the loose?

New mysterious respiratory virus on the loose?(IMRA).
SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 1 Dec.’12: 2 more Cases of New Virus in Jordan”, Associated Press.

SUBJECT: New mysterious respiratory virus 

QUOTE:” World Health Organization recommends that countries test any persons with unexplained pneumonia” 

FULL TEXT: International health officials have confirmed two more fatal cases of a mysterious respiratory virus in the Middle East.

The virus has so far sickened nine people and killed five of them. The new disease is a coronavirus related to SARS, which killed some 800 people in a global epidemic in 2003, and belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold. The two cases date back to April and are part of a cluster of a dozen people, mostly health workers, who fell sick in an intensive care unit at a hospital in Zarqa, Jordan. Officials are investigating whether the 10 other people who grew sick in Zarqa also were infected and how the virus might have spread. "It's too early to say whether human-to-human transmission occurred or not, but we certainly can't rule it out," said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl. One of the Jordanian cases was a 40-year-old female. All of the other patients to date have been men. The new virus has so far been identified in patients from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Scientists haven't found any links between the sporadic cases of the coronavirus so far, first detected in September. "We don't know how the virus gets around and there are more questions than answers right now," Hartl said. Several of the patients sickened by the new coronavirus have had rapid kidney failure and others have suffered severe pneumonia and respiratory illnesses. The virus is most closely related to a bat virus and scientists are also considering whether bats or animals like camels or goats are a possible source of infection. Scientists are also considering whether fruit contaminated by animal droppings may have spread the virus.
Still, not all of the cases had contact with animals and WHO said it was possible the virus was spread between humans in the Jordan hospital and in a cluster of cases in Saudi Arabia, where four members of the same family fell ill and two died. WHO says the virus is probably more widespread than just the Middle East and recommended that countries test any people with unexplained pneumonia. ========== Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA.

Related : H1N1 cases in Saudi Arabia kept silent to avoid panic among haj pilgrims.

H1N1 cases in Saudi Arabia kept silent to avoid panic among haj pilgrims.

H1N1 cases in Saudi Arabia kept silent  to avoid panic among haj pilgrims.(GD).Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (4E) – Saudi health authorities reported at least eight cases of H1N1 infections at the Al-Amal mental hospital in Riyadh.
The infected people were given Tamiflu vaccine while 27 other people, including four nurses, suspected of having the influenza virus were quarantined. Staff of the hospital also took precautionary measures, including wearing masks when dealing with patients, and cancelling an party celebrating the Eid al-Adha Muslim festival.

The latest H1N1 outbreak in the kingdom was discovered 18 days ago but was not disclosed to avoid panic among haj pilgrims according to spokesman of Health Affairs Directorate in Riyadh Saad Al Qahtani. 

The virus first reached Saudi Arabia in 2009 brought by an infected Filipino nurse working at King Faisal Specialized Hospital. Last month, a Saudi boy vacationing with his family in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the virus but recovered. In September, a 60-year-old Saudi man died from the virus and a 49-year-old Qatari man was infected with it after traveling to the kingdom. The Qatari man has recovered after being treated in a hospital in London.Read the full story here.

Related: Novel coronavirus Saudi Arabia, third case confirmed A third case of novel coronavirus infection causing severe respiratory illness has been confirmed in Saudi Arabia.

Related: A Saudi man cured of SARS.