Photo Credit NIAID
# 8636
The audio and transcript of yesterday’s hastily called CDC telebriefing on an apparent secondary transmission of the MERS virus from the Indiana index case to a contact he met with twice over two days in a business meeting setting, is now available online.
This newly identified case was discovered through serology testing, not from standard PCR tests designed to detect the virus.
In other words, this contact has developed antibodies to the MERS virus.
His initial PCR testing (on May 5th) failed to detect any signs of viral shedding. Antibodies typically rise to a detectable level 1 to 4 weeks after exposure to a virus. The CDC has been testing several serology tests to detect MERS-CoV antibodies over the past year, in order to better understand the spread of the virus.
The contact has remained either asymptomatic or only mildly ill (described as allergy-like symptoms) during the incubation period, is likely not contagious, but is currently in `self-isolation’ – staying home or wearing a mask in the presence of others – pending additional tests.
While hardly a ground shaking development (we’ve seen mildly ill, or asymptomatic contacts in other countries), yesterday’s announcement expands slightly the definition of `close personal contact’, which has been the standard used to define a heightened risk of infection.
Earlier examples have been family members, care givers, or HCWs.
As you’ll see from the transcript, this contact had a (roughly) 40 minute face-to-face meeting in a office with the index case on one day, and a much briefer encounter the next day. The only physical contact mentioned was a handshake. An exposure that would seem to fall somewhere in between `casual contact’ and `close personal contact’.
Since serological results for MERS are not (yet) accepted by the World Health Organization as proof of infection, this case will not be counted as a confirmed case . . . for now.
But because of the CDC’s extensive testing and epidemiological investigations into these first two imported cases – and their contacts – we may learn more about how this virus spreads over the next few weeks than we’ve learned over the past two years.
Press Briefing Transcript
CDC Telebriefing – Updates On Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-coV) Investigation In The United States
Saturday, May 17. 2014 3:30 p.m. ET
*PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A ROUGH VERSION AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOS.
