MERS
lborkowski | June 8, 2015A 68-year-old South Korean man recently returned from a multi-country trip to the Middle East developed a cough and fever. He visited four health facilities before being diagnosed with MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), and in the process spread the virus to several more people. Now, 50 people in South Korea have been diagnosed with MERS, and four have died. Two of the patients are healthcare workers.
MERS is a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and characterized by fever, cough, and shortness of breath; it was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It has…
lborkowski | May 7, 2014Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory illness characterized by fever, cough, and shortness of breath, and it has been fatal in 30% of the cases identified since the disease was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It is caused by a coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and has been shown to spread between humans by close contact; new research suggests the virus may also be transmitted to humans from camels. Cases have been identified in multiple countries in the Arabian Peninsula, and a spike in cases in April -- more than 200 in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that…
lborkowski | April 21, 2014April 2010 saw two major workplace disasters: The April 5th explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, where 29 workers lost their lives, and the April 20th explosion at the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 workers. Four years later, Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette reminded us that "for those who lost loved ones, April 5 is now forever the day that they became a widow or an orphan, the day they lost their son or their best friend." He posted the names of the 29 miners and a slideshow memorial about them at his Coal Tattoo blog.
The BP Deepwater Horizon…