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| Original Map Credit Wikipedia |
#13,926
Today's report of another secondary case from Wadi Aldwasir is the 100th MERS case of 2019 from Saudi Arabia, a milestone that wasn't reached last year until August.
Yesterday's WHO EMRO MERS summary for February described the complex, and multi-focal six week long outbreak in Wadi Aldwasir as:
From January 29 to end of February, a total of 52 laboratory-confirmed cases with 7 associated deaths have been reported for this outbreak: 1 suspected index, 3 unknown exposures, 10 sporadic primary cases, 38 secondary cases (7 household contacts and 31 hospital-acquired cases, including 11 healthcare workers (HCWs)).While the number of new cases from Wadi Aldwasir has dropped dramatically since the end of February, today we've the 3rd secondary case reported in less than a week. (Note: Two other primary (camel contact) cases have also been reported from Wadi Aldwasir since March 1st).
There is no ongoing active transmission occurring.
On March 6th (see A New Secondary MERS Case In Wadi Aldwasir)
we saw a 45 y.o. female (without camel contact) reported, and on March 8th the MOH reported on an 85 y.o. male whose case was then `under investigation'.
Since then, the MOH has updated his status to `secondary'.Although it is no longer expressly stated in the daily Saudi updates, most - if not all - of these three recent cases are likely healthcare acquired.
This latest report raises the Wadi Aldwasir outbreak to 57 cases, including 12 primary cases, 41 secondary cases, and 3 of unknown origin.
While sputtering, the outbreak in Wadi Aldwasir is apparently not quite over.
