# 8674
Today we’ve got a Jordanian MERS update from the World Health Organization that may be one of the suspected cases I blogged about a couple of weeks ago (see Jordan: Media Reports Of 2 More Suspected MERS Cases).
While this case has no travel history or contact with camels, he was hospitalized in early May at a facility where a confirmed MERS case was being treated.
Interestingly although clearly symptomatic and suspected of having MERS-CoV, this patient initially tested negative on May 13th, only to test positive 10 days later. It would be of interest to know how this first sample was collected; from the upper or lower respiratory tract.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update
Disease Outbreak News
28 May 2014 - On 25 May 2014, the National IHR Focal Point of Jordan reported to WHO an additional Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) case in Amman, Jordan.
The case is a 69 year-old male Jordanian citizen and resident of Amman governorate. The patient was admitted to hospital on 29 April 2014 for a surgical procedure. He was discharged on 3 May 2014. On 8 May, the patient presented with fever. His condition deteriorated and he was admitted to the same hospital on 11 May. Two days later, on 13 May, he started to complain of cough. A specimen was collected from the patient and it tested negative for MERS on the same day, but a chest X-Ray showed pneumonia. A second specimen was collected and it tested positive by PCR on 23 May. The patient is currently in the intensive care unit in a critical condition.
The patient is known to have comorbidities, no history of travel, and no history of contact with animals. He also has no history of contact with a laboratory confirmed MERS-CoV case. However, he was admitted to the same hospital where a laboratory confirmed MERS-CoV fatal case was admitted. This case was reported to WHO on 6 May.
Contact tracing and screening of family members, health workers, and patients for MERS-CoV is currently ongoing.
Globally, 636 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV have officially been reported to WHO, including 193 deaths. This global total includes all of the cases reported in this update, plus 17 laboratory confirmed cases officially reported to WHO by Saudi Arabia between 16 and 18 May. WHO is working closely with Saudi Arabia for additional information on these cases and will provide further updates as soon as possible.
