Bangladesh has recorded its first case of the often-fatal Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) corona virus.
The virus has been detected in a 53-year old man who had checked into a local hospital on June 6 after returning from the US via Abu Dhabi on June 4.
Prof Mahmudur Rahman, director of the national disease control agency, IEDCR said: “We have collected the first samples on June 10 and informed World Health Organisation (WHO).”
“We are yet to be sure that from where the patient got infected with the virus. Our team has collected a second batch of samples for looking into the matter,” he said.
MERS belongs to a family of viruses that include both the common cold and SARS, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003.
It can cause symptoms that include fever, breathing problems, pneumonia and kidney failure.
There is no cure or vaccine for the virus.
