THE newspapers on Sunday reported on the detection of the first ever case of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus after a Bangladesh-born US resident was admitted to the hospital days after returning home via Abu Dhabi Airport. The 53-year-old who arrived in Dhaka from New York two weeks ago was admitted to a city hospital with fever, cough and respiratory difficulties on June 9. The researchers here collected and tested the blood samples of the patients at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) and found the virus. The report is no doubt a shocking one as it was the first known MERS case in Bangladesh. The country has become the 22nd nation to report a case of MERS contamination. Therefore, it is inevitable to take all out precautionary measures to prevent spread of deadly MERS virus before it turns into an epidemic form. This respiratory virus has claimed many lives in the Middle East, though slowly, over the past years. Saudi Arabia has the most victims of any country. It is assumed that the virus comes from a species known as coronavirus which under the electronic microscope looks like a spiky blob. Saudi Arabia announced the number of cases of MERS has exceeded 500 in the Kingdom, with 157 deaths among them. Thus is the fatality rate is also high. The globally detected number of MERS cases is more than 570, with two of them recently reported in the United States.Though WHO has declared that the disease is yet to reach the point of “public health emergency of international concern” there is no room for complacency as the WHO announcement was studded with warnings. The MERS coronavirus could mutate and pose a threat far beyond the Middle East. Detecting the MERS affected patient in Bangladesh is an example of this. Moreover, some three million Bangladeshis work in the Middle East, more than two-thirds of them in Saudi Arabia, who are at the risk of MERS contamination. Besides, Muslim pilgrims from around the world including Bangladesh are pouring into the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, undeterred by the spread of the deadly virus.We suggest the Health Ministry should initiate a mass campaign programme for maintaining hygiene practices, including washing hands, stopping spitting in public places and covering the mouth while coughing or sneezing as the experts suggest. And as a preventive measure to curb the entrance of this deadly syndrome, the IEDCR should set up a desk at the Shahjalal International Airport to diagnosis the passengers who travelled back from the Middle East. The Chinese experience of SARS epidemic may be a good example to follow. China was also very open with the H7N9 – avian flue – crisis.We urge the Saudi authorities as well as the Bangladeshi ones concern to learn a lesson from fighting SARS in China and share the world’s wisdom and experience to fight this nuisance.
