--- title: Saudi Arabia Reports More Deaths From MERS description: Saudi Arabia reports three more deaths as cases continue to rise canonical: https://time.com/89263/saudi-arabia-reports-more-mers-deaths/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-06T15:01:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:40:37.697Z article:section: Health og:title: Saudi Arabia Reports More Deaths From MERS og:description: Saudi Arabia reports three more deaths as cases continue to rise og:url: https://time.com/89263/saudi-arabia-reports-more-mers-deaths/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Saudi Arabia Reports More Deaths From MERS twitter:description: Saudi Arabia reports three more deaths as cases continue to rise twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Saudi Arabia Reports More MERS Deaths by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 6, 2014 3:01 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 6, 2014 3:01 PM UTC Saudi Arabia’s death toll from MERS has hit 115. The Associated Press [reports](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article%5F2014-05-05-ML-Saudi-Virus/id-e75f2226a3224a8c8e72e949fc2bbef8) that on Monday, a 45-year-old man and two women in their 50s died from MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) after contracting it in the western Saudia Arabia city Jiddah. Three additional people now have the disease, health officials report, bringing the Saudi Arabian total to 414 confirmed cases — and just last week, the CDC [reported](http://time.com/86268/deadly-middle-east-virus-in-u-s-for-first-time/) the first case in the U.S. The U.S. victim was isolated right away, and doctors say he will likely be [heading home soon](http://time.com/84783/saudi-arabia-mers/). He is currently at Community Hospital in Munster, Ind. The patient lives in Saudi Arabia and works in a hospital. He was visiting family in the U.S. on a planned trip. MERS is in the same virus family as SARS. It has no vaccine or treatment, and researchers believe the disease may have come from camels. So far, human-to-human transmission has only occurred among people with close contact with infected people. There’s [worry](http://time.com/76209/saudi-arabia-mers-deaths/) over how much the disease could spread in July when millions of people are expected to visit on Saudi Arabia for Ramadan. In October, millions of Muslims will also gather in the city of Mecca for the Hajj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage. Health officials are worried about transmission. \[[_AP_](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article%5F2014-05-05-ML-Saudi-Virus/id-e75f2226a3224a8c8e72e949fc2bbef8)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/89263/saudi-arabia-reports-more-mers-deaths/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/89263/saudi-arabia-reports-more-mers-deaths/"},"headline":"Saudi Arabia Reports More MERS Deaths","datePublished":"2014-05-06T15:01:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:40:37.697Z","description":"Saudi Arabia reports three more deaths as cases continue to rise","url":"https://time.com/89263/saudi-arabia-reports-more-mers-deaths/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","Saudi Arabia","MERS"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/89263/saudi-arabia-reports-more-mers-deaths/","name":"Saudi Arabia Reports More MERS Deaths"}}]}] ```