French health authorities have isolated two MERS patients from a tour group, implementing strict measures to prevent transmission of the rare but deadly virus.
PARIS: French health authorities have isolated two people infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.
The patients, who were part of a tour group that visited the Arabian Peninsula, are now in stable condition in a French hospital.
The health ministry said management measures have been implemented to limit the risk of virus transmission.
No secondary cases have been found so far.
Other members of the tour group are also being monitored as a precaution.
All necessary measures are in place to limit transmission risk to the patients’ contacts and healthcare staff.
These measures include contact tracing, barrier gestures, screening, isolation and procedures for symptom monitoring.
Human-to-human transmission of MERS is considered rare but possible through direct or indirect contact.
The virus is believed to originate from bats, with camels acting as the primary source of human infection.
MERS is a more deadly but less contagious variation of the SARS virus that emerged in the early 2000s.
Symptoms are similar to Covid-19, including fever, coughing and breathing difficulties.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, MERS has caused 958 deaths from 2,640 reported cases between 2012 and November this year.
Most cases have occurred in Saudi Arabia and these are the first MERS cases reported in France since 2013, when the country recorded two previous infections.
