Officials say the first case of the MERS virus has been reported in Egypt, putting health officials on high alert as the potentially fatal disease spreads with alarming rates across Saudi Arabia.
The case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome was found in an Egyptian citizen who recently returned from Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Health said over the weekend, Reuters reported. The 27-year-old male was living in the Saudi capital Riyadh when he returned to his home in the Nile Delta. He is being treated at a Cairo hospital for pneumonia, one of the illnesses resulting from the virus, the ministry said in a statement obtained by Reuters.
Other symptoms of the virus, which is related to the common cold, include coughing, fever and shortness of breath, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Over 90 people have died from the virus since it was first reported in 2012. Saudi Arabia currently has 339 cases of the MERS virus, with 26 cases alone being reported over the weekend, according to CNN. It has spread from the Arabian kingdom to North Africa and Europe.
The World Health Organization said it is "concerned" about the increase in MERS cases, which has a death rate of more than 40 percent, Reuters reported.
Health experts are unable to determine why the disease is suddenly rampant.
"We have faced an increase in the number of cases around the same time last year at the end of winter," Dr. Abdullah Al-Asiri, Saudi Ministry of Health assistant undersecretary, said according to CNN.
Reports from the kingdom say that the former Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah resigned due to the increase of MERS cases, according to CNN.
A drug company is to arrive in the kingdom to help produce a vaccine for the virus, a ministry spokesman told CNN.
