On July 24 and July 25, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the outbreaks of two deadly diseases.
The first announcement concerns the sudden emergence of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the United Arab Emirates.
In this outbreak case, the patient in question was a 28-year-old male from Abu Dhabi. He was not in direct contact with other patients or any known virus source.
The patient paid visits to multiple medical centers, prior to receiving a diagnosis. Additionally, he was in contact with at least 108 individuals before receiving treatment.
According to the WHO’s account of events, the majority of people who have caught MERS-CoV have either been in touch with another patient or dromedary camels. The WHO noted that these are the natural hosts of MERS-CoV.
Because the patient did not fall under any of these known trends, the WHO announced that member states must carefully analyze any unusual illness movements and anything connected to a surge in cases.
Since 2012, there have been 2,605 reported cases of MERS-CoV and at least 936 deaths connected to the virus.
On July 25, WHO also announced a notable outbreak of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) in Peru. This is a rare neurological disorder, which has not been studied sufficiently, that tends to differ in terms of its clinical severity.
Cases originated from different regions of Peru, which typically experience 20 cases or less on a monthly basis. From June 10 to July 15, Peruvian health authorities reported at least 130 alleged cases of GBS, with 44 officially confirmed so far.
The bulk of individuals infected were adults below the age of 30 and minors below 17. Over half of the reported cases consisted of male patients.
GBS often results in death for those who contract it. Thus far, medical professionals have not found a cure for the disease. GBS’ cause is still being researched by the scientific community, which still does not fully grasp it.
However, medical experts believe a majority of cases are connected to bacteria or viruses.