The Ministry of Health issued a statement on Tuesday denying that two women who died from respiratory illness Monday were infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS CoV). In Menufiya on Monday, an Egyptian woman suspected of having virus died a week after arriving from Saudi Arabia, where the virus has killed 115 of 421 patients since it first appeared in 2012. The same day, two Egyptians arriving to Hurghada from Saudi Arabia were quarantined that the airport and sent to the hospital to be tested for the virus. Health ministry spokesman Dr Ahmed Fathallah said there has only been one confirmed MERS case in Egypt. The virus appeared in Egypt for the first time in April when a 27-year-old man returned to the country from a trip to Saudi Arabia, according to the Ministry of Health. The patient is currently in a Cairo hospital. Test samples taken from other suspicious cases were either negative or their results are not yet out, Fathallah said. The Saudi Ministry of Health announced the formation of a 10-doctor committee 27 April that will put forth a plan to deal with the virus. The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS CoV) first appeared in Saudi Arabia in April 2012. Since then, it has killed 115 out of 421 patients in the Kingdom, according to state-run Al-Ahram. MERS is a similar virus to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which originated in Asia in 2003 through transmission from animal to man. MERS is more lethal, yet less contagious than SARS. In May 2013, it was confirmed that MERS can be transmitted human to human.
