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While we are waiting for confirmation on this morning’s report of 3 suspected cases of MERS in Turkey, Germany’s RKI (Robert Koch Institute) has announced a recently returned traveler from Abu Dhabi is in isolation, being treated for MERS in Lower Saxony.
Given this patient returned from the UAE in early February, and the RKI report indicates that his contacts were `were determined and monitored by the relevant health authorities’, it seems likely we are hearing about this case somewhat belatedly.
Although the UAE has been pretty quiet regarding MERS since last summer, there was one case recently reported to the WHO and posted on February 11th, who fell ill on January 29th, and died on the 6th. At this point we don’t have any information on how this latest case was exposed.
Two reports, a brief (translated) press account, followed the the RKI statement.
Infected man from Osnabrück region with fatal Mers-Virus
Osnabrück - When a man from the region of Osnabrück deadly Mers coronavirus was detected. The patient had returned early February from a vacation trip from Abu Dhabi to Germany, said the Lower Saxony Ministry of Health on Saturday in Hanover. He will now be treated in an isolation hospital in Osnabrück. How is the man who was not initially know. Even people from his environment stood now under medical observation. It is the first case of illness of its kind in Lower Saxony. A threat to the population but not there. Mers can lead to kidney failure among others and severe pneumonia. A vaccine does not exist.
Information of the RKI disease cases by the MERS -Coronavirus
Stand: 07.03.2015
Situation in Germany (change)
In Germany, for the third time occurred a MERS-CoV case, as in the two previous cases, the disease was brought by a-arrived from the Arabian Peninsula patients. It is a 65-year-old German who had traveled to the United Arab Emirates, and is currently being treated at a hospital in Lower Saxony. In the Lower Saxony Minsterium of Health has informed in a press release on 7 March 2015 (see link below, all links mentioned here can be found at the end of the text). People with close contact with the patient were determined and monitored by the relevant health authorities, the authorities are at the local and state level in close contact with the Robert Koch Institute. Generally MERS-CoV is not easily transferable, so that even in the case of secondary cases can not be expected that longer chains of infection occur. In Germany, therefore, there is no increased risk of disease in the general population.
Previously, one patient each in 2012 and 2013 were treated, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in Germany, one of the two patients could be discharged recovered, the other died. The investigation of contacts in both cases had no evidence of secondary infections result (Buchholz et al., Euro Surveillance 02/21/2013;. Epidemiological Bulletin No. 31/2013, see link below).
The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is known since April 2012. Clinically proven cases present at the beginning with an acute beginning, flu-like illness. The incubation period is usually one to two weeks. In severe cases, a pneumonia may develop, which may turn into an acute respiratory distress syndrome. A common accompaniment is diarrhea; in severe cases even kidney failure may occur. Severe reactions mainly occur in persons with chronic underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer or immunosuppression.
Since the first appearance of MERS 2012 were WHO reported laboratory confirmed cases over a thousand, especially in the Arabian Peninsula, about 40% of them died. The current state of affairs on diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO) available (see link below).
