# 9708
With the strong caveat that this time of year respiratory symptoms are rampant, Xinhua and Reuters are both reporting that 11 contacts of the Filipino nurse who returned from KSA with MERS are under quarantine and are `symptomatic’.
At this time, none have tested positive for the coronavirus.
That said, here are both reports.
Eleven people linked to Philippines MERS case show symptoms: WHO
By Tom Miles
GENEVA Fri Feb 13, 2015 8:16am EST
(Reuters) - Eleven people who had contact with the Philippines' first confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) are also showing symptoms, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
"Eleven contacts are symptomatic. It's a mix of family contacts and hospital contacts, the doctors and nurses who attended the case before she was tested and found positive," said Peter Ben Embarek, a scientist at the WHO's department of food safety and zoonoses.
11 under quarantine after showing MERS-CoV symptoms in Philippines
(philstar.com) | Updated February 13, 2015 - 7:00pm
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine government said Friday that 11 of 56 people who have close contacts of the nurse who tested positive for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) have manifested symptoms of the disease.
They are undergoing quarantine at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), according to the Department of Health ( DoH).
The 11 individuals include the nurse's husband, who came home with her via Saudi Airlines Flight SV860 on Feb. 1. The rest are health workers at the Evangelista Medical Specialty Hospital in San Pedro, Laguna where she first sought medical consultation on Feb. 2.
The nurse's mother-in-law and house helpers are also undergoing quarantine at RITM although they showed no symptoms at the moment, Sadie Janette Garin, DoH acting secretary, said in the press briefing.
"All 56 people yielded a negative result in the first round of tests using nose and throat swab samples. However, the 11 symptomatic patients will undergo another round of tests using sputum and rectal swab samples," she said.
Garin clarified that the nurse had 220 co-passengers on the flight she took. Ninety two of them have been located and agreed to be tested.
With the amount of influenza currently circulating, some (or all) of these symptomatic cases could easily have something other than MERS. When a second round of tests are announced, I’ll update this story.
