The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed four new cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), with one being fatal, raising worldwide death toll to 72.

According to Reuters, WHO announced Friday the latest cases were four men in the Saudi Arabian city of Riyadh. The worldwide total of MERS cases is now 170, with 72 reported deaths, according to the United Nations health agency. The latest death was a 73-year-old man.

Two healthcare workers were infected with the virus but had no adverse symptoms. The elderly man who died reportedly had contact with animals suspected of carrying the virus and the fourth case, a 53-year-old man, had contact with a previously confirmed case of MERS.

Scientists are still trying to definitely pinpoint the origin of MERS, but believe camels are the likely target for the "animal reservoir" for the virus.

MERS first appeared in Saudi Arabia in Sept. 2012 and has since appeared in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Tunisia and several countries in Europe. The virus belongs in the same family as SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that caused a global pandemic in 2003. Symptoms for MERS include pneumonia, fever and coughing.

A previous study from Qatari and Dutch scientists found that camels do not just carry the virus, but it can infect them as well. The study confirmed this for the first time and also strengthened the belief that they are the source of the human outbreak.

Health officials have advised the general public to avoid contact with animals when possible and to wash before and after coming into contact with them. MERS is not expected to be the global pandemic that SARS was. For example, most of the fatalities caused by MERS were people whose health was degraded in some way, by old age, existing condition, chronic illness, or by other means.

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