Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Saudi MOH Announces 1 Primary MERS Case In Riyadh
















Update: 11:15 EDT -  A h/t to Crof who spotted 3 recoveries in the the Feb 12th update from the MOH (no new cases), who are all previously unannounced HCWs MERS cases from Hafar Al-Batin, which has been the subject of media reports for more than a week.
https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/PressReleases/Pages/statistics-2018-02-12-001.aspx
While this confirms that outbreak, it still leaves us with the Taiwan CDC report of 4 cases and 3 fatalities mentioned below.



#13,145


Over the past two weeks we've seen inconsistent reporting on MERS cases from the Saudi MOH, with only 4 entries between January 20th and Feb 12th (see list below) on the English language MERS surveillance page.  

During that time, no new cases were reported.


https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/PressReleases/Pages/default.aspx

On Sunday, in Saudi MOH: Mismatching MERS Reports, I wrote about a case reported on their Arabic site on the 9th - of a primary case in Riyadh - for which there was no matching  entry on the English side.  

Stranger still, in More On Recent Reports Of Saudi MERS-CoV Activity, I posted an outbreak notification from the Taiwan CDC website which indicated there were 4 MERS cases and 3 deaths in KSA between January 30th and Feb 8th.
Again, no mention of these cases on either list. 
Today, however, the MOH has posted a report of a 42 y.o. Expat male in critical condition in Riyadh, listed as a primary case with no known camel contact.  Since this case is also reported today on the Arabic surveillance list, it doesn't appear to be a belated posting of the Arabic case from the 9th.

https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/PressReleases/Pages/statistics-2018-02-13-001.aspx


Exactly what is behind these recent gaps and inconsistencies in MERS reporting from the MOH remains unexplained.  While there is no obligation to post these daily reports - only to notify the WHO under the 2005 IHR - they demonstrate openness and transparency, which is always appreciated by the international community.

Hopefully, they will find a way to continue that practice.