Saudi Arabia's death toll from MERS has risen by five to 126 fatalities since the mystery respiratory virus first appeared in the kingdom in 2012, the health ministry said Friday. MERS cases have also been reported in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Leba**n and even the United States, with most involving people who had travelled to Saudi Arabia or worked there, often as medical staff. The great majority of deaths from the virus have been in Saudi Arabia, however. MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.