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Earlier this month there were reports of an imported (from Saudi Arabia) MERS case in the island Kingdom of Bahrain (see CIDRAP Bahrain, Saudi MERS detections tied to camel contact). Despite their close proximity to KSA, this is first case reported by the Kingdom.
Bahrain is connected to Saudi Arabia by the 24 km King Fahd Causeway, which accommodates more than 50 thousand travelers each day.
Today, the World Health Organization has published the following update, which elaborates on, and confirms many of the previously known details.
On 10 April 2016, the National IHR Focal Point of Bahrain notified WHO of a fatal case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). This is the first case reported in Bahrain.
Details of the case
A 61-year-old, Saudi male was admitted on 29 March to a health care facility in Bahrain for an unrelated medical condition. He was screened for MERS-CoV, a routine procedure for those coming from Saudi Arabia, and tested negative for the infection. On 4 April, and while hospitalized, he developed symptoms. On 9 April, the patient tested positive for MERS-CoV. The patient had comorbidities. He owned a dromedary barn in Saudi Arabia and had a history of frequent contact with them and consumption of their raw milk. He had no history of exposure to the other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. On 12 April, he was transferred to a hospital in Dammam city, Saudi Arabia but passed away on the same day.
The National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been notified. Contact tracing of household and healthcare contacts is ongoing for this case. The Ministry of Agriculture was notified and investigation of dromedaries is also ongoing.
Globally, since September 2012, WHO has been notified of 1,725 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 624 related deaths.
(Continue . . . )
