#13,922
Starting off Epi week 11, today the Saudi MOH announced two more secondary MERS cases - bringing KSA's 2019 MERS total to 99 cases - with 17 cases reported over the past 10 days.
Secondary cases are those who are infected as a result of direct contact with a previously infected case, usually either a housemate, or at a healthcare facility.Three days ago, the Saudis reported 2 Secondary MERS Cases In Khamis Mushait, and today a 3rd case from that southern city has been added; a 64 y.o. female with no camel contact.
As noted last Thursday, the last primary case reported by the MOH from Khamis Mushait was more than a month ago during epi week #6. Whether these cases are connected is unknown.The other secondary case reported today comes from Hafr al Batin, in the far north of Saudi Arabia and involves a 47 y.o. male (with camel contact).
Although reported as a secondary case, we've not seen any recently reported primary cases from Hafr al Batin, making the source of this infection a bit of a mystery for now.
The recent reduction in detail in these daily reports makes it more difficult to analyze trends, but we do seem to be seeing more small clusters of cases reported this year, than we have in recent years.While this could be due to a change in the virus, it may simply be the result of more rigorous testing of (perhaps mildly symptomatic, or even asymptomatic) contacts of known cases.
Hopefully we'll get a better idea from the next WHO update.
