Habibi! (don't) come to Dubai! - MERS

First off, I absolutely do think you all should visit Dubai at some point in your lives if you have not been already, it truly is a beautiful city and that title was 90% for attention grabbing purposes only lol.

Fancy a vacation get-away to Dubai?.. think again!

Today ladies and gentle readers, we will be discussing MERS - Middle Eastern Respiratory syndrome. An infection with all cases linked to the Arabian Peninsula, firstly reported in Saudi Arabia and caused by MERS corona virus (MERS-CoV). MERS is not fully understood yet with its resovoir suggested as the Middle Eastern Tomb Bat and its incubation duration as 2-14 days with an average of 5-6 days

As always, the characteristics of this infection will be explained as we follow the life of a fictional character for better understanding. So, without futher a do.. meet Gio.

Gio is a dedicated chattered accountant who works full time in one of London's biggest accounting firms. As a reward to himself, he decided to use up all his saved vacation days to book a 7 day all inclusive trip to Dubai!!

As soon as he landed, he decided to do what most tourists do in Dubai and visit the desert. Upon getting to the desert, Gio felt extremely welcomed and in awe of the landcapes. While gawking at the scenery, he was approched by an Arab tour guide encouraging him to briefly ride the camel and get some memorable pictures taken, to which he agreed.

After posing with the camel and exchanging thanks, the tour guide asked Gio if he would like a complementary cold glass of Middle East's finest camel milk and an isolated area to himself to relax and watch the ongoing belly dancing performance. Gio was thrilled! He accepted without hesitance.

2 days had gone past and poor Gio wasn't feeling so great. He had a non-productive cough, nausea, a fever and vomitted frequently. Initially, he assumed it was some sort of food poisoning as he had been struggling with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) since childood....boy was he wrong! - His IBS only contributed to the intensity of the infection as IBS involves low-grade immune dsyregulation.

You see, Gio did not know that the very camel he took images on and drank the milk of had been extremly ill. It produced an immense amount of mucus as a result of this, in which the tour guide hid to protect his only source of income - tourism.

A day after his initial symptom presentation, Gio noticed a headache, severe abdominal pain, chills, myalgia - muscle pain, malaise - overall feeling of unwellness and diarrhea. So, he was rushed to A&E.

At triage, it was noted that Gio was experiencing shortness of breath (SOB) and showed signs of pneumonia, which was later confimed via chest X-ray. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were obtained from Gio using multiple (fluid) samples. This included a nasopharyngeal swab, sputum sample or broncheoalveolar lavage (BAL) and serum. Gio was now considered a patient under investigation (PUI) for MERS.

2 days after being admitted, Gio's lab tests had come back sugesting strong infection, specifically pointing towards MERS. He then shortly after developed Adult Respitory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) for which he was intubated and mechanically ventilated, renal failure and... Death.

This was not surprising in the slightest as MERS has a mortality rate of 30-40%, as reported by the Centre for Disease Control and Preventon - CDC (that's bloody high mate!).

To reduce likelihood of contracting MERS, the World Heath Organisation (WHO) encourages immunocompromised patients to avoid contact with camels while visiting the Arabian Peninsula. Good hygeine and hand washing for anyone in contact with camels, as the disease is not only thought to be transmitted from camels to people but from person to person and NO drinking of camel milk or urine!!

Damn.. that was actually a lot to digest hahahahah! Real talk though mate, ALWAYS maintain your hygeine, be careful around non-domisticated animals in general and the possible infection is not worth that camel milk I-See-Kireem I-see-kireem (please tell me you lot get the reference, otherwise I'll feel like I'm chronically online hahahahah!!).

Xoxo,

Tehilla.