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The World Health Organization has published another MERS update, detailing four recent cases from Saudi Arabia. Two of these cases may be tangentially linked to the Hofuf (aka `Hafoof’, `Hafouf’,`Hufof;) cluster we’ve been following for the past three weeks, but the circumstances of their infection are far from clear.
As we’ve discussed previously, sometimes the route of infection is pretty obvious, but often we don’t really know how community-acquired cases were exposed (see WHO EMRO: Scientific Meeting Reviews MERS Progress & Knowledge Gaps).
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia
Disease outbreak news
25 May 2015Between 18 and 23 May, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 4 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, including 1 death.
Details of the cases are as follows:
- A 77-year-old female from Hafouf city developed symptoms on 17 May and was admitted to hospital on the same day. A nasopharyngeal swab tested positive for MERS-CoV on 22 May. The patient has comorbidities. She was admitted to the same hospital as a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case (case 2 – see below). Investigation of history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing. Currently, the patient is in critical condition in ICU.
- A 48-year-old male from Hafouf city developed symptoms on 1 May and was admitted to hospital on 10 May. The patient, who has comorbidities, was initially diagnosed with a cardiovascular condition. He was transferred to a cardiac center in Hafouf city on 14 May. On 20 May, a nasopharyngeal swab tested positive for MERS-CoV, which led to the patient being transferred to the MERS-CoV reference hospital in Hafouf on the same day. He was admitted to the same ward and treated by the same health workers as a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case that was reported in a previous DON on 24 May (case n. 12). The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to onset of symptoms. Currently, he is in critical condition in ICU.
- A 73-year-old female from Aflaj City developed symptoms on 14 May while admitted to hospital since 2 May due to an unrelated medical condition. The patient had comorbidities. A nasopharyngeal swab tested positive for MERS-CoV on 17 May. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing. The patient passed away on 18 May.
- A 59-year-old, non-national female from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 15 May and was admitted to hospital in Riyadh on 16 May. A nasopharyngeal swab tested positive for MERS-CoV on 17 May. The patient has comorbidities. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing. Currently, the patient is in stable condition isolated at home.
Contact tracing of household contacts and healthcare contacts is ongoing for these cases.
The National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also notified WHO of the death of 3 previously reported MERS-CoV cases. The cases were reported in previous DONs on 24 May (case n. 5, 9) and on 8 May (case n. 1).
Globally, WHO has been notified of 1139 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 431 related deaths.
