France Detects 2 MERS Virus Cases Among Tour Group

French health officials have placed two individuals under isolation after they tested positive for the virus causing Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

According to French authorities, the patients were part of a tour group that had recently travelled to the region.

MERS is considered a more fatal but less contagious variation of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which originated in China in the early 2000s.

The virus that causes MERS is believed to have originally come from bats, although transmission to humans usually occurs via camels.

The ministry confirmed that the two patients, now in a “stable” condition, had taken part in “a joint trip to the Arabian Peninsula,” as stated in an official release on Wednesday night.

Authorities noted that, “Management measures have been put in place to limit the risk of transmission of the virus,” adding that no additional infections had been detected so far.

According to the authorities, other members of the tour group have also been placed under observation.

“All measures have been put in place to limit the risk of transmission of the virus to the patients’ entourage and to healthcare staff,” the statement said.

It stated that these precautions involve “contact tracing, barrier gestures, screening, isolation and procedures to follow in case of the appearance of symptoms, even moderate ones”.

Data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control showed that MERS has been responsible for 958 deaths out of 2,640 confirmed cases recorded between 2012 and November this year, with the majority of cases occurring in Saudi Arabia.

The illness presents symptoms similar to those of COVID-19, including fever, cough and breathing problems.

The health ministry also stressed that person-to-person spread is “rare” but “possible through direct or indirect contact, through respiratory droplets and occasionally through the air”.

It further noted that France had earlier documented two cases of MERS in 2013.