Healthcare worker in contact with Mers victim is latest case in Dubai

The 33-year-old man contracted the virus after coming into contact with an Emirati man who died on December 22.

DUBAI // A healthcare worker in Dubai has contracted the Mers coronavirus after being in contact with a 68-year-old man who died from the disease.

The World Health Organisation said on Friday it had been informed on New Year’s Eve of the latest laboratory-confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, or Mers-cov, in the UAE.

The 33-year-old male healthcare worker had been in contact with the 68-year-old Emirati man, who suffered from diabetes and chronic kidney failure and who died on December 22.

The Emirati was the first confirmed case in Dubai after several in Abu Dhabi. Four days after his death his wife, 59, from Sharjah, was confirmed as having been infected.

The healthcare worker developed symptoms on December 27 and had pneumonia in both lungs, acute renal failure and thrombocytopenia diagnosed the following day. He has an underlying history of bronchial asthma and chronic kidney disease and he is currently in a critical but stable condition.

The UAE is now the second most prevalent country for Mers after Saudi Arabia.

Globally, since September 2012 the World Health Organisation has been informed of 177 laboratory-confirmed cases of Mers, 74 of them fatal.

The organisation is urging all its member countries to remain vigilant and report any new cases to them as soon as possible.

People are being warned to avoid close contact with animals when visiting farms or barn areas, where the virus is known to be circulating, and to wash hands before and after touching animals.

Conditions for a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” have not yet been met, WHO said.