Photo Credit WHO
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The World Health Organization has published the following DON (Disease Outbreak News) report on their Global Alert & Response (GAR) page, adding six cases (3 women, 3 men) – one with mild symptoms and the others hospitalized.
The use of an age spread, instead of listing actual ages, makes it difficult to match all of these cases up to third party line-listings like FluTrackers MERS Case List, but the 14 year old is probably FT case #140 and the 79 year-old likely FT case # 139.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) - update
Disease outbreak news
4 October 2013 - WHO has been informed of an additional six laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in Saudi Arabia.
The six new patients are from Riyadh region with ages from 14 to 79 years old, of which three are women and three men. The dates of onset of the patients range from 15 to 26 September 2013. One patient has mild symptoms while the others are hospitalized. Three patients are contacts of previously confirmed cases with MERS-CoV, two are reported to have had no exposure to animals or a confirmed case, and there is no information on exposure of one patient.
Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 136 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 58 deaths.
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.
Health care providers are advised to maintain vigilance. Recent travellers returning from the Middle East who develop SARI should be tested for MERS-CoV as advised in the current surveillance recommendations.
