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We’ve two DON reports from the WHO this morning on MERS in the Middle East, with the first from the UAE. Until recently the UAE held second place in the number of MERS cases globally (77 cases & 10 deaths), but the Korean outbreak has easily dwarfed those numbers in less than a month.
They do, however, continue to report sporadic cases, and today the WHO reports on the 5th such case of the year.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – United Arab Emirates
Disease outbreak news
16 June 2015On 15 June 2015, the National IHR Focal Point of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) notified WHO of 1 additional case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection.
Details of the case are as follows:
A 65-year-old, non-national male from the Eastern region developed symptoms on 31 May and was admitted to hospital on 6 June. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 14 June. He has no history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to onset of symptoms. Currently, the patient is in critical condition in ICU. Contact tracing of household and healthcare contacts is ongoing for the case.
Globally, WHO has been notified of 1293 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 458 related deaths.
This second report from Saudi Arabia describes two cases from Hofuf – where we’ve been watching an extended nosocomial outbreak - and one case (now reported deceased) from Turabah City.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia
Disease outbreak news
16 June 2015Between 9 and 12 June 2015, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 3 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 male from Hofuf city developed symptoms on 26 May. On 27 May, he was admitted to a hospital that had been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. On that occasion, no laboratory samples were collected for MERS-CoV testing. The patient was treated symptomatically and discharged on 31 May. On 10 June, symptoms reappeared and he was admitted to a different hospital on the same day. The patient, who had comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 11 June. He passed away on 11 June. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
- A 60-year-old female from Hofuf city developed symptoms on 2 June and was admitted to hospital on 8 June. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 9 June. Between 26 May and 7 June, she visited her daughter at a hospital with an ongoing MERS-CoV outbreak. The daughter, who had been hospitalized for an unrelated medical condition, has not developed MERS-CoV-related symptoms. Currently, the patient is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward.
- A 73-year-old male from Turubah city developed symptoms on 23 May and was admitted to a hospital in Jeddah on 1 June. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 8 June. He has no history of contact with camels; however, the patient has a history of frequent contact with sheep and consumption of their raw milk. He has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. Currently, the patient is in critical condition in ICU.
Contact tracing of household 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 2 previously reported MERS-CoV cases. The cases were reported in a previous DON on 11 June (case n. 1, 5).
Globally, since September 2012, WHO has been notified of 1292 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 458 related deaths.
