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| Credit WHO |
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The World Health Organization has posted two MERS updates today. The first, from Saudi Arabia, covers 7 cases that were reported between February 17th-25th.
Case #4 had potential camel exposure, #5 is a HCW and a contact of a previously announced case, and case #2 owns `sheep, goat and cows' - none of which have been documented to carry the MERS virus.
For the remaining 5 cases, no known risk exposure is listed. These cases are all from before the current nosocomial outbreak in Buraidah, which began in early March.
Between 17 and 25 February 2016, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 7 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection.
Details of the cases
Contact tracing of household and healthcare contacts is ongoing for these cases. Globally, since September 2012, WHO has been notified of 1,651 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 590 related deaths.
- A 56-year-old male from Hail city developed symptoms on 20 February and, on 23 February, was admitted to hospital. The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 24 February. Currently, he is in critical condition in ICU. Investigation of history of exposure to the known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
- A 60-year-old male from Najran city developed symptoms on 20 February and, on 22 February, was admitted to hospital. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 24 February. Currently, he is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. The patient owns sheep, goat and cows. Investigation of history of exposure to the known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
- A 53-year-old, non-national male from Abha city developed symptoms on 11 February and, on 20 February, was admitted to hospital. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 22 February. Currently, he is in critical condition in ICU. Investigation of history of exposure to the known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
- A 74-year-old male from Afif city developed symptoms on 15 February and, on 21 February, was admitted to hospital. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 22 February. Currently, he is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. The patient owns camels and has a history of frequent contact with them and consumption of their raw milk. He has no history of exposure to the other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. The Ministry of Agriculture was notified and their investigation is ongoing.
- A 28-year-old, non-national, female health care worker from Alkarj city was identified through contact tracing of laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV cases (see DON published on 29 February – case no. 1 and 2). The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 18 February. Currently, she is asymptomatic in home isolation. The patient has no history of exposure to the other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to detection.
- A 24-year-old, non-national male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 14 February and, on 16 February, was admitted to hospital. The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 17 February. Currently, he is in critical condition in ICU. Investigation of history of exposure to the known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
- A 53-year-old male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 13 February and, on 16 February, was admitted to hospital. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 17 February. Currently, the patient is in stable condition in home isolation. Investigation of history of exposure to the known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
The second update is on the case from Qatar (see Qatar MOH Statement On 1st MERS Case Of 2016) announced on Feb 22nd. As reported previously, this is a Qatari who had been residing in Saudi Arabia where he owned, and visited, a camel barn at the time he fell ill.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Qatar
On 21 February 2016, the National IHR Focal Point of Qatar notified WHO of 1 additional case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection.
Details of the case
A 66-year-old, male, Qatari national developed symptoms on 18 February while in Saudi Arabia, where he had stayed for approximately 2 months. On 19 February, the patient sought health care in a hospital in El-Hassa Region, Saudi Arabia, where he was treated symptomatically and discharged. The patient developed additional symptoms on 20 February. On the same day, as his condition deteriorated, the patient was transferred by ambulance to a hospital in Doha, Qatar. The patient, who was a heavy smoker and had comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 21 February. He passed away on 7 March.
The patient owned a camel barn in Saudi Arabia and frequently visited it. He had a history of frequent contact with the camels and of consumption of their raw milk. He had no history of contact with the other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.
The Ministry of Public Health of Qatar carried out case investigation and contact tracing. Respiratory swabs were collected from the patient’s household and healthcare contacts in Qatar resulted negative for MERS-CoV. Household contacts were monitored until the end of the 14-day exposure period to the case.
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