İstanbul Hospital Partially Quarantined Over MERS Virus Suspicion

The emergency unit of a state hospital in İstanbul's Eyüp district was quarantined after a woman who recently returned from Saudi Arabia checked in at the hospital with symptoms resembling that of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus.

Media reports say the 73-year-old woman who recently performed Hajj and returned Turkey last week came to the emergency unit of the hospital early on Tuesday with complaints of a high fever and nausea. Hospital authorities immediately quarantined the emergency unit due to suspicions she could have MERS. Patients receiving treatment in the emergency unit were transferred to other hospitals and the hospital staff was given face masks.

The incident comes a few days after the first MERS-related death in Turkey.

The Turkish Health Ministry said in a statement last week that a worker who returned to Turkey on Oct. 6 had died. The statement indicated that the worker immediately went to a private health clinic upon his return because his health had deteriorated. He remained in intensive care until he died on Oct. 11, and the ministry said doctors in Ankara concluded that he had died of the MERS virus, which he contracted in Saudi Arabia, urging those who had been in contact with him to go through a health screening.

The MERS virus, which has gripped the Middle East since last spring and causes coughing, fever and sometimes fatal pneumonia, has been reported in more than 800 patients, mainly in Saudi Arabia.

The MERS virus is thought to have spread to neighboring countries and, in a few cases, to Europe, Asia and the United States since it emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

At least 301 MERS-related deaths out of 853 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported to the World health Organization (WHO). But the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says 352 deaths have been reported to public health authorities worldwide out of 887 confirmed cases.

The disease is thought to have originated from camels and aside from travel-related dispersion, all MERS cases have been confined to the Arabian Peninsula, Lebanon, Jordan and Iran.(Cihan/Today's Zaman)

SHOTLIST
TURKEY, ISTANBUL, 21 OCT 2014

Emergency unit of the hospital
People in front of the hospital wearing masks
Hospital workers wering masks and gloves
Security precautions
VAR of the hospital building

DURATION: 02:16