Saudi MOH Reports 4 MERS Cases (2 Secondary, 2 Primary)

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Epi week 10 began 3 days ago with the Saudi MOH announcing 2 secondary cases in the nation's capital city Riyadh.  Today, the MOH announces 2 more secondary cases from Riyadh, along with primary cases from Mekkah (no camel contact), and Wadi Aldwasir (camel contact).

This is the first reported case from hard hit Wadi Aldwasir in more than a week, bringing their 2019 total to 51 cases.

Since the start of Epi week 10, the Saudi MOH appears to have changed how they report cases.

• Instead of telling us if a patient is hospitalized, or in home isolation,  the only designation offered this week is `active'.
• We also are only seeing a case classification of `Primary' or `Secondary', whereas in the past, we were getting additional valuable information (secondary household, secondary healthcare, etc.).

Hopefully this abbreviated reporting style isn't a permanent change.

With this week's report about all we can say is there is another cluster of cases in Riyadh, but we can't tell if they are part of a household cluster, a healthcare cluster, or both.

While we've seen no signs of any sustained or efficient transmission of the MERS virus in the greater community, we do seem to be seeing more individual clusters of cases in the past couple of months than any other comparable period over the past couple of years.

Whether this signifies a change in the virus, lapses in hospital infection control, or reduced public awareness of the dangers of camel contact or camel products is impossible to say.

But it is a trend very much worth watching.