Saudi MOH Reports A Community Acquired MERS Case In Riyadh

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While reports of MERS infections remain subdued in Saudi Arabia, and across the Middle East, we continue to see sporadic community acquired cases and the occasional hospital or household cluster (see Saudi MOH: Another Household Cluster of MERS - Jeddah).

For the second time in less than a week, the capital city of Riyadh reports a hospitalized, community acquired case, with no listed risk exposure. Last week it was a 40 y.o. male, while this week it is a 66 y.o. male.

 


And over the past 6 months we've seen a number of studies that have called into question our ability to identify mildly symptomatic, asymptomatic, or atypically presenting MERS infections in the community.  A few of those studies include:

J. Korean Med Sci: Atypical Presentation Of A MERS Case In A Returning Traveler From Kuwait

mBio: High Prevalence of MERS-CoV Infection in Camel Workers in Saudi Arabia

AJIC:Intermittent Positive Testing For MERS-CoV

JIDC: Atypical Presentation Of MERS-CoV In A Lebanese Patient

And last August - in Evaluation of a Visual Triage for the Screening of MERS-CoV Patients - we looked at what has been described as a serious flaw in Saudi Arabia's MERS surveillance program.

While low numbers of cases are reassuring - and far better than the alternative - the actual incidence of MERS infection and its level of transmission in the Middle East remains an elusive number.