The World Health Organization takes a proactive approach once again as they form an emergency committee to fight further outbreak of the Middle East coronavirus (MERS).
Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general for health security and environment for WHO, called for a news conference on Friday to announce that the organization is looking for international experts who would like to join the emergency team they are forming. The emergency committee will focus on the issue of the MERS outbreak.
The MERS virus was first reported in September 2012 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia affecting a 60-year old patient. The patient manifested symptoms such as acute pneumonia and acute renal failure. Experts still haven’t identified the source of the virus. WHO declared MERS as a ‘threat to the entire world’ in May which had infected patients even from non-Middle Eastern countries such as France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
As of June 19, there were 60 cases reported across the globe with 38 people dead.
Fukuda clarified that there was no actual emergency but they wanted to prepare ahead of time especially that the annual haj pilgrimage of the Muslims are near. Many will visit Saudi Arabia and they were at risk of bringing with them the virus when they return from their journey.
"We want to make sure we can move as quickly as possible if we need to," Fukuda told a news conference.
"If in the future we do see some kind of explosion or if there is some big outbreak or we think the situation has really changed, we will already have a group of emergency committee experts who are already up to speed so we don't have to go through a steep learning curve."
The MERS emergency committee is the second for WHO. The first was in 2009 during the H1N1 pandemic.
