WHO: Oman Reports 3rd MERS Case Of 2015

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My thanks to Lisa Schnirring of CIDRAP News for tweeting the link to a World Health Organization GAR report on the third MERS case to be reported out of Oman this month.  The first two cases were described in a WHO GAR report on January 16th.

 

Details of the case are as follows:

• A 32-year-old male from Dakhelyia Region who developed symptoms on 27 December and was admitted to hospital on 5 January. The patient had comorbidities. He owned a farm and had frequent contact with camels, goats and sheep. The patient had no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. He was admitted to ICU but passed away on 7 January.
• A 31-year-old female from Dakhelyia Region who developed symptoms on 8 January and was admitted to hospital on 9 January. The patient has no comorbidities. She is a household contact of the MERS-CoV case reported above. The household owns camels but she had no direct contact with them. The patient is in stable condition and remains in isolation.

 

This third case is apparently another contact of the first two cases.

 

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Oman

Disease outbreak news
23 January 2015

On 17 January 2015, the National IHR Focal Point of Oman notified WHO of 1 additional case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection.

Details of the case are as follows:

A 43-year-old male from Dakhelyia Region. The patient is a direct contact of a laboratory-confirmed, fatal MERS-CoV case and was identified through contact screening. He was admitted to hospital on 16 January and discharged on 19 January but the patient remains asymptomatic. He has no comorbidities. The patient visited the fatal case at home and participated in the funeral rites. He has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to a respiratory sample being taken.

Tracing and monitoring of household contacts and healthcare contacts is ongoing for this case.

Globally, WHO has been notified of 956 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 351 related deaths.

 

Unlike the first two cases, this patient is reported to have been asymptomatic.  This cluster represents only the 3rd, 4th, and 5th cases reported out of Oman since MERS-CoV was identified in 2012.