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The World Health Organization has posted an update on Saudi Arabia's MERS activity, with 7 cases from Hafuf and 1 from Taif described.
We've been watching an ongoing outbreak in Hofuf with roughly 20 cases reported over the past 6 weeks - and while the early cases were described as `household contacts' of an infected case - most of the recent cases have been listed as simply `contacts'.
Proving that a hospital is no place for a sick person - today's update indicates 6 of the 7 recent Hofuf cases were hospital patients who were admitted for other reasons, and became infected while hospitalized.
The 7th case is a HCW working with infected patients.
Despite repeated attempts to ratchet down the infection control policies in hospitals dealing with the MERS virus, preventing nosocomial spread of the virus remains a challenge in many facilities.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia
Disease outbreak news 4 June 2015
Between 26 and 30 May 2015, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 9 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, including 4 deaths.
Details of the cases are as follows:
- A 43-year-old male from Hofuf city developed symptoms on 27 May while admitted to hospital since 21 May due to an unrelated medical condition. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 28 May. Currently, he is in critical condition in ICU. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
- A 50-year-old female from Hofuf city developed symptoms on 28 May while admitted to hospital since 8 May due to unrelated medical conditions. The patient, who had comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 29 May. She passed away on 29 May. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
- A 48-year-old male from Hofuf city developed symptoms on 23 May while admitted to hospital since 4 May due to an unrelated medical condition. The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 28 May. Currently, he is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
- A 57-year-old female from Hofuf city developed symptoms on 24 May while admitted to hospital since 20 May due to an unrelated medical condition. The patient, who had comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 28 May. She passed away on 31 May. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
- A 74-year-old male from Taif city developed symptoms on 27 May while admitted to hospital since 17 May due to an unrelated medical condition. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 28 May. Between 21 and 23 May, he was admitted to the same ward and attended by the same health workers as a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case (case n. 9 – see below). The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. Currently, he is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward.
- A 70-year-old male from Hofuf city developed symptoms on 27 May while admitted to hospital since 20 May due to unrelated medical conditions. The patient, who had comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 28 May. Between 18 and 20 May, he was admitted to the same ward as a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case that was reported in a previous DON on 25 May (case n. 2). Investigation of whether they were attended by the same health workers is ongoing. The patient had no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. He passed away on 30 May.
- A 27-year-old, non-national female from Hofuf city developed symptoms on 22 May while admitted to hospital since 18 May due to an unrelated medical condition. The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 28 May. She was admitted to the same room as a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case that was reported in a previous DON on 1 June (case n. 2). Investigation of whether they were attended by the same health workers is ongoing. The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. Currently, she is in critical condition in ICU.
- A 26-year-old, non-national, female health worker from Hofuf city developed symptoms on 26 May and was admitted to hospital on 27 May. The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 28 May. Between 22 and 23 May, she provided care to a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case that was reported in a previous DON on 25 May (case n. 2). The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. Currently, she is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward.
Contact tracing of household and healthcare contacts is ongoing for these cases.
- A 65-year-old male from Taif city developed symptoms on 20 May and was admitted to a hospital in Taif on the same day. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 25 May. He has a history of contact with camels and consumption of raw camel milk. The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. He passed away on 30 May 2015.
The National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also notified WHO of the death of 2 previously reported MERS-CoV cases. The cases were reported in previous DONs on 25 May (case n. 2) and on 17 May (case n. 3).
Globally, since September 2012, WHO has been notified of 1164 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 440 related deaths.
