- Traveler likely contracted the virus in Abu Dhabi
# 8745
Although details are still sketchy, and I find no official mention on the Bangladesh’s IEDCR website, there are widespread media reports this morning (Reuters, Daily Star, Bangladesh News Service) announcing that country’s first imported MERS case.
The most complete coverage I can find comes from BDNews24.com:
First case of MERS in Bangladesh
Nurul Islam Hasib, bdnews24.com
Published: 2014-06-15 13:29:30.0
Bangladesh has confirmed the first case of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS) after a 53-year-old man returning from the US via Abu Dhabi was found afflicted with it.
Prof Mahmudur Rahman, director of the national disease control agency, IEDCR, said the man was recuperating in a hospital.
“We have notified it to the WHO,” he told bdnews24.com on Sunday.
<SNIP>
Prof Rahman, also a WHO expert on the board reviewing MERS, warned against unnecessary panic .
He said the virus has not spread further within the country after it has come here from the Middle East.
“We urge everyone to report to the hospital if they fall sick after returning from particularly abroad”.
The first case was detected on Sunday. The 53-year-old man had returned Dhaka on June 4.
Symptoms showed up on June 6 and the person landed up in a hospital on June 9 with severe breathlessness.
The IEDCR director said they had made hospitals aware of the disease so that they report them if a suspect patient was found.“We have tested 39 suspects, but only has tested positive so far,” Rahman said.
Another report, albeit with fewer details, this time from Reuters:
Bangladesh reports first case of MERS infection
DHAKA Sun Jun 15, 2014 5:48am EDT
(Reuters) - Bangladesh on Sunday reported its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus infection in a man returning from the United States through Abu Dhabi.
The man, 53, was being treated in hospital, said Mahmudur Rahman, of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.
"Most probably, he contacted the virus while he was in Abu Dhabi in transit on his way back from the United States," Rahman told Reuters.
Unless I’ve missed a country, this should bring to 22, the number of nations that have now reported at least 1 MERS Case.
