A Deadly Wall of Silence Surrounds a Potentially Global Pandemic Disease
By Greg Madison
June 12, 2013
One of the really beneficial things about science is its power to transcend borders and ideologies.
Scientists in countries that may be totally hostile to one another have the chance of collaborating on difficult problems in a spirit of openness.
This ability to collaborate and exchange information across borders is particularly important when a new disease with global pandemic potential emerges, as it has in the Middle East with the respiratory system coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
This “novel coronavirus” was identified in September of 2012 in the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah. The disease was found in a deceased 60-year old man who died of acute pneumonia and kidney failure. Little else is known of this unfortunate individual.
A Scary Bug
MERS-CoV is a scary bug. There have been 51 reported cases radiating outward from the Arabian Peninsula, from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Tunisia, out to Germany, France, and Italy. The death toll presently stands at 30, giving an informal “mortality rate” of more than 50%. The overwhelming majority of those deaths have occurred in Saudi Arabia.
Which is why the deafening silence coming from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health is troubling – if not downright scary. World Health Organization scientists seeking to tackle the problem desperately need any data the Saudis can provide.