DOHA (The Thursday Times) — Qatar has recorded its first cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome since 2022, in two men who worked with camels at separate farms, the World Health Organization said, adding that both have recovered and none of their 99 contacts was infected.
Qatar’s health authorities notified the UN health agency of the two laboratory-confirmed cases on October 29, according to a disease outbreak notice WHO published on Friday. The infections were confirmed on August 5 and August 25.
The first patient, a man over 50 with chronic medical conditions who had worked with dromedary camels for years, fell ill on July 22 and was admitted to hospital three days later. A swab from his upper airway first tested negative, and the infection was confirmed only when a sample from his lower airway came back positive. He was discharged after two negative tests.
The second patient, also a man over 50 with underlying conditions, bred and reared camels. In the two weeks before he fell ill on August 23, he had cared directly for young camels that had recently been sick, and he had drunk raw camel milk. He developed severe pneumonia and needed high-flow oxygen and non-invasive breathing support before he recovered.
Health officials traced 73 contacts of the first man and 26 of the second, most of them health and care workers. All were monitored for 14 days, and all tested negative. One health worker developed respiratory symptoms but tested negative twice.
Camels remain the main source
WHO said the two men were exposed at farms in different places, with no link found between them, and that the exact sources of infection had not been determined. Their sustained contact with camels, including the sick animals and raw milk in the second case, “suggest probable zoonotic acquisition”, the agency said, meaning the virus most likely passed from animals to people. It found no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.
MERS is caused by a coronavirus whose natural host is the dromedary camel. About 37 per cent of laboratory-confirmed patients have died, according to WHO, although the agency says that figure may overstate the true death rate because milder cases often go undetected. The virus can spread between people in close contact, particularly in hospitals.
WHO said its overall assessment of the risk from MERS remained moderate at both regional and global levels, and it advised against any restrictions on travel to or trade with Qatar. It urged people with diabetes, kidney failure, chronic lung disease, or weakened immune systems to avoid close contact with camels, and told the public not to drink raw camel milk or camel urine or eat meat that has not been properly cooked.
Qatari authorities have sent a national advisory to health care providers, stepped up vigilance in hospitals, and begun animal health investigations and awareness work among people who are frequently exposed to camels, the agency said.
