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The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe has produced a MERS-CoV update that focuses primarily on coronavirus cases that have been reported in the European region.
All 11 European cases have either recently traveled in the Middle East, or have had close contact with someone who did.
Small, limited clusters involving secondary transmission of the virus, have been reported in the UK, France, and Italy. Earlier today the WHO released a full update on the novel coronavirus.
MERS-CoV update: 2 more cases reported in Italy, total in Europe rises to 11
02-06-2013
The Ministry of Health in Italy, through the European Union’s Early Warning Response System, has notified WHO of 2 more laboratory-confirmed cases with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the country.
Both the patients are close contacts of the recent laboratory-confirmed case of a 45-year-old man who had travelled to Jordan. The first patient is a two-year-old girl and the second patient is a 42-year-old woman. All three cases are in stable condition.
The man had returned to Italy on 25 May 2013 with symptoms of cough and fatigue. His condition deteriorated and he was hospitalised on 28 May 2013. Laboratory test was conducted by the influenza reference laboratory of Tuscany and confirmed by the National Center of NHI (Istituto Superiore di sanità).
Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 53 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 30 deaths. Eleven of these cases have been reported from countries in the European Region and include 4 deaths.
WHO/Europe is coordinating the response to MERS-CoV with the European Union and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The Regional Office is also facilitating information exchange and coordination among countries in the European Region and the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encourages all Member States to continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and to carefully review any unusual patterns.
WHO does not advise special screening at points of entry with regard to this event nor does it currently recommend the application of any travel or trade restrictions.
