DOHA: A three-day international workshop on MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) concluded here on Wednesday with a call to strengthen co-operation between the GCC to prevent a further spread of the deadly disease.
The workshop proposed to review the rules and regulations on cross border movement of camels considering the fact that camels are a major source in the spread of the disease.
Veterinary quarantines at border points should be empowered to include follow up and research and include other animals which have relations with camels, felt the participants.
They recommended that meat, milk and urine of camels be studied because many people in the region are still using them without boiling and some are using camel urine for treatment. Role of all these elements in the spread of the disease should be investigated.
The workshop also proposed a joint budget for research among all the GCC countries and other international bodies and research centres.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, co-organisers of the workshop urged the GCC countries to establish a regional programme for animal health and food safety. This programme should include MERS and other common diseases.
The workshop explored the possibility of a regional agreement between GC countries for tracking MERS virus in camels and conducting laboratory tests before the camels enter these countries.
A Doha Declaration approved by the workshop urged participating countries to provide information about MERS infection in camels to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for creating an international data base. All infected camels should be isolated until they fully recover.
The MERS infection is found to be through three sources- environment, camels or humans. The participants stressed the need for keeping the infected camels under observation for long time.
The workshop underlined the need for research for finding vaccines against the disease by doing comparative studies to find similarities between different cases.
THE PENINSULA
