Photo Credit WHO
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Infection of healthcare workers (HCWs) by any infectious disease is considered a serious sign among epidemiologists because – presumably – they routinely are taking at least some infection control precautions (e.g. handwashing, gloves, masks, etc.). Infected HCWs, because they move from one patient to the next, can also be efficient vectors of an illness, raising the risks of nosocomial (hospital-related) outbreaks.
We therefore watch HCW infections carefully, as they can be a harbinger of things to come.
Last month, in NEJM: Mild MERS-CoV Infections In HCWs, Saudi Deputy Health Minister Dr. Ziad Memish et al. described 7 mild and/or asymptomatic MERS infections among female Healthcare Workers in Saudi Arabia.
Good news, but as Dr. Ian Mackay points out this morning in his Virology Down Under blog, not every HCW MERS infection has proved to be this benign. It is also unclear whether we have a complete picture of the number of HCW cases. Follow the link below for Ian’s breakdown of MERS in medical personnel, including some excellent charts.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus cases amongst healthcare workers
Thursday, 12 September 2013
With a lot of help from FluTrackers, the 2 of us have synced our lists to account for all the healthcare workers (HCWs) for which public data are available, that have been confirmed as MERS-CoV positive.
Some charts then.
We can see that HCWs make up approximately a seventh (14%; n=19) of all MERS-CoV cases.
