REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BOGOR -- Researcher from the Department of Animal Disease and Public Health, Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) Surachmi Setyaningsih said the cause of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (Mers-CoV) is a corona virus.

"It can cause death to someone if he or she is infected and does not get immediate medical treatment and care," Setyaningsih said here Monday.

She explained that MERS-CoV was first discovered in the Middle East countries, such as Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.

"MERS-CoV is commonly found in animals which can infect humans," she said, adding that most infected people will suffer acute respiratory disease.

The symptoms are fever, cough and breathless. Approximately half of the patients die, Setyaningsih said.

The common symptom to all patients is fever above 30 degrees Celsius, or about 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

These symptoms, she added, usually appear two to 10 days after exposure, but there are some cases reported where symptoms appear 13 days after the exposure.

In most cases the symptoms usually appear between two to three days. "Until now there is no cure or vaccine for this disease," she said.

Setyaningsih said the Indonesian government has made prevention efforts by suggesting people who want to go conduct Hajj or Umrah pilgrimage to Makkah to carry out clean and healthy lifestyle by eating nutritious food, having adequate rest, washing hands with soap, and using mask when being in a crowd.

For prospective pilgrims who have chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, heart, lung, kidney disorders or other diseases need to have medical check-up before departure and take regular medication.

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