Scientific American French health officials are trying to trace all the contacts of two men who contracted MERS, a potentially lethal disease that is typically confined to the Middle East. French health officials are working to trace all the contacts of two men who contracted Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), a potentially deadly disease that typically only occurs in the Middle East.
These cases of the disease are the country’s first in 12 years, according to the French health ministry. The men, both of whom are in their 70s, are in a stable condition. About four in every 10 people who have a MERS infection die of the illness, and there is no cure or vaccine.