A man in Germany died from complications stemming from the Mers virus

(Baonghean.vn) - A 65-year-old man has died in Germany from medical complications after being treated for the Mers-CoV virus, which has spread throughout the Middle East and to many other areas.

A man in Germany has died after complications from treatment for the Mers virus. Photo: AP

The man is believed to have caught the virus from an infected camel during a trip to a livestock market in the United Arab Emirates in February. Doctors treated the man after he fell ill and then sent him home, believing he had recovered. However, the man died on June 6 in the western town of Ostercappeln from pneumonia, according to the Ministry of Health.

Michael Schiffbaenker, a spokesman for the Niels-Stensen group at the hospital, said on Tuesday that the hospital had agreed with the family not to release details of the fatal infection but confirmed the Mers virus had weakened his body.

More than 200 people who may have come into contact with him were subsequently tested, but none were found to be carrying the Mers virus. "Any possible spread of Mers virus to contacts of the patient has been prevented," the health ministry said in a statement.

The man’s death from the disease is the first in Germany in two years, and the third nationwide. Two other patients from Qatar and the UAE were treated for the virus in 2012 and 2013, one of whom died.

Mers was first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread across the Arabian Peninsula and into Europe, Asia and North America. Globally, 1,200 people have become seriously ill and at least 450 have died. Most of the deaths have occurred in places with poor medical conditions and in people with weakened immune systems. Mers is in the same family as Sars, which caused a global emergency in 2003.

Phuong Thao

(According to The Guardian)