Updated 8:34 p.m. Moscow Time
GENEVA, October 24 (RIA Novosti) — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday officially confirmed the first ever case of infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) registered in Turkey.
"On October 17, 2014, WHO EURO was notified by the National IHR Focal Point for Turkey of a laboratory-confirmed case of infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus," the WHO said in its latest Disease Outbreak News report.
"On October 11, 2014, the patient died. This is the first MERS-CoV case in Turkey," the statement said.
The MERS corovavirus was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since affected a number of Arab, European and North African countries. The cases of the disease have also been registered in the United States and Indonesia. Earlier in October, the WHO said that 317 of the 877 MERS infection cases reported to the organization were lethal.
In September, scientists from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Colorado State University found out that camels could be primary reservoirs or carriers of the coronavirus. The infection has been found in camels in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, but scientists still have not figured out its initial source or developed a vaccine to treat it.
