Three people hospitalized for suspected MERS case in Turkey

ADANA – Anadolu Agency

DHA Photo

A third suspected Coronavirus, also referred to as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), patient was identified in Turkey’s southern Adana province, health officials said Oct. 21.

The 60-year-old patient came to the Ceyhan public hospital with complaints of high fever and nausea – both symptoms of the MERS infection.

The patient, who had just returned from Saudi Arabia, was sent to the Adana Numune Research Hospital for treatment. It was not immediately clear if the patient had contracted the disease.

Earlier during the morning of Oct. 21, Istanbul Eyüp Hospital’s emergency service was quarantined after a 73-year-old woman, who also recently returned from Saudi Arabia, exhibited MERS symptoms. The woman came to the emergency department of the hospital with complaints of high fever and nausea.
The woman was eventually isolated in a special ward at the hospital and the service was reopened. Hospital authorities have yet to announce whether she is infected with the deadly virus.

On Oct. 20, a 79-year-old patient in the southern province of Antalya was admitted to a hospital with similar symptoms. The woman was isolated in a special ward at the hospital and her blood samples were sent to a laboratory at a public health center in the capital of Ankara to identify her illness.

MERS was first reported in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. It has been found in camels in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Egypt.

The Coronavirus spreads quickly through contact in crowded spaces, posing a particular risk during hajj. Saudi Arabia said it had taken precautionary measures to prevent an outbreak during the pilgrimage.