WHO MERS Update – Jordan, October 1st

 

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Over the first three weeks of September the World Health Organization reported they had been notified of 11 recent MERS cases in Jordan, with the first case having had recent travel to Saudi Arabia.   The last WHO update was provided on September 18th.

Although the Jordanian MOH has been silent on new cases, on Monday of this week in Jordanian MOH Cautions On MERS, I mentioned vague media reports suggesting another 2 or 3 cases.

Today the World Health Organization has published details on 4 additional cases, including two Health Care workers, bringing the total for 2015 to 15 cases.  As we’ve seen in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and South Korea . . . once a nosocomial outbreak begins, it can take quite some time to bring it under control.

 

 

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

Disease outbreak news
1 October 2015

Between 21 and 23 September 2015, the National IHR Focal Point of Jordan notified WHO of 4 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, including 1 death.

Details of the cases

• A 29-year-old, male health care worker from Amman city developed symptoms on 15 September. After attending the emergency room of the hospital where he works, the patient was treated symptomatically and sent home. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 20 September and was admitted to hospital. Currently, he is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. The patient provided care to a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case (see DON published on 18 September – case no. 2). He has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.
• A 60-year-old male from Amman city developed symptoms on 10 September and, on 15 September, was admitted to hospital. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 20 September. Currently, he is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. The patient visited a hospital in which a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case had received care. Investigation of possible epidemiological links with the hospitalized MERS-CoV case or with the health care workers who took care of the case is ongoing. The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.
• A 69-year-old female from Amman city was admitted to hospital on 7 September due to a cardiovascular condition. The patient, who had comorbidities, was discharged from hospital on 16 September. On 17 September, she developed symptoms and, on the same day, was admitted to another hospital. The patient tested positive for MERS-CoV on 22 September and, on the same day, passed away. Investigation of possible epidemiological links with the MERS-CoV case in the first hospital or with shared health care workers is ongoing. The patient had no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.
• A 39-year-old, female health care worker from Amman city, who was identified through contact tracing, tested positive for MERS-CoV while asymptomatic on 23 September. Currently, she is still asymptomatic in home isolation. The patient, who has no comorbidities, provided care to a laboratory-confirmed case (see DON published on 18 September – case no. 2). She has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.

Contact tracing of household and healthcare contacts is ongoing for these cases.

Globally, WHO has been notified of 1,593 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 568 related deaths.