A 63-year old woman has been quarantined in a private hospital here on suspicion of having contracted MERS-CoV (The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus), sources said here today.
The airport authorities had advised the woman, who returned from Saudi Arabia on May 19 to get a check-up done for MERS as she was coughing. She was admitted to the private hospital on May 22. The samples of blood and respiratory secretion have been sent to the National Institute of Biologicals (NIB), Pune, and the report was expected in two days, sources said.
This is the first suspected case of MERS in Karnataka after an alert was sent to airports in Bangalore and Mangalore, where MERS screening facilities have been set up. District Heath and Family Welfare Officer H S Shivakumar said a test at a hospital in Manipal had suggested it was only viral fever.
However, the report from NIB would be conclusive.
