DOHA: A Qatari man has died in a London hospital from suspected Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), The Telegraph said yesterday.
The unnamed 49-year-old with a history of visits to Saudi Arabia was admitted to the intensive care unit of Hamad General Hospital with serious illness on September 3 last year and was transferred to the UK by air ambulance five days later. He was diagnosed as suffering from the MERS virus and treated in a specialist centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital.
However, his death could not be confirmed with officials here yesterday.
“Guy’s and St Thomas’ can confirm that the patient with severe respiratory illness due to novel coronavirus (MERS-nCV) sadly died on Friday, June 28, after his condition deteriorated, despite every effort and full supportive treatment,” a hospital spokesman said. However, experts at the hospital also have raised a doubt if the man would have died because of a different infection.
“The doctors treating him still don’t know exactly what killed him,” said a clinical scientist at the hospital, Dr Jon Bible. “In the end his lungs were basically worn out, so secondary infection can also be a problem. The virus and corresponding immune response causes severe injury to the lung tissue.” The Peninsula
