A new public health threat comes from Qatar: it is the so-called “camel flu“, better known as Mers-CoV (middle respiratory syndrome). And in Great Britain the alert has already been triggered. The Health Security Agency, in fact, has issued a special information note, in which “doctors and health professionals are urged to pay specific attention to travelers returning from the World Cup”.
Australian flu vaccine: side effects, when to do it and how effective it is
Urgent warning over ‘camel flu’ as World Cup fans return to England https://t.co/z7u76uRk3C pic.twitter.com/5jdZs02QZ2
— The Sun (@TheSun) December 11, 2022
Camel fever, here are the symptoms and how you get infected
Patients presenting with symptoms such as fever, respiratory difficulties, He retched e diarrhea they may have contracted Mers, an infectious disease that is transmitted by animals. In Europe, the risk of infection is usually very low, but the mass of travelers who have visited Qatar worries the British health authorities. In fact, it is not unusual for tourists who visit those areas to have contact with camels to take a photograph or take a tour in the desert. Qatar, in other words, is a place where exposure to risk factors is highest. The HSA explains that «MERS can be acquired from close contact with camels» but also «from the consumption of camel products, such as unpasteurized camel milk».
British doctors have also warned of the possibility of “person-to-person” transmission of this coronavirus, explaining that two cases of infection have already been reported in Qatar this year.
Mers, mortality rate higher than that of Covid
The numbers of “camel fever” are also worrying: more than a third of people who contracted the disease died. A much higher mortality rate, for example, than that of Covid, which stands at 4%. Between April 2012 and October 2022, 2,600 cases were recorded in 12 countries in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Of these, 935 people died, 36%.