1st case of MERS virus infection diagnosed in Spain

Spain’s Health Ministry says a woman has been infected with a new deadly respiratory virus related to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

According to a statement released by the ministry on Wednesday, the woman, who had been diagnosed with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), is currently under treatment in a hospital in Madrid.

The statement added that this was the first case of the MERS coronavirus infection to have been reported in the European country.

The woman was infected with the deadly coronavirus after returning from a visit to Saudi Arabia, it said.

Some 50 people have died from the virus over the past year across the world. The deadly virus has mostly affected Saudi Arabia.

MERS-CoV is a cousin of SARS. The virus first emerged in the Middle East, and was discovered on September 2012 in a Qatari man who had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia.

Similar cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, Germany, France, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom. Health officials say the virus is likely to have already spread between people in some circumstances.

Health officials are trying to find out how humans are contracting the virus in a bid to find the best remedy to it.

It does not appear to be as contagious as SARS, which killed some 800 people in a 2003 epidemic.

MERS-CoV is most closely related to a bat virus. Scientists are considering whether bats or other animals like goats or camels are a possible source of infection.