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| Credit Saudi MOH |
#14,262
MERS reports this summer out of Saudi Arabia have been sporadic, with just 9 cases reported in July (see WHO EMRO MERS-CoV Summary - July, 2019). Until today, only 3 cases have been reported during the month of August (see chart above).
Today, however, the Saudi MOH reports two cases; a primary case (67,M) with camel contact from Al Qurayat and a 65 y.o. (F) secondary case in Riyadh.The last reported MERS case from the Saudi Capital Riyadh - and potentially the source contact of today's secondary case - was announced back on August 10th (Epi Week 32) and involved a 67 y.o. male with unknown camel contact, who is now listed as recovered.
MERS reporting out of Saudi Arabia has always been a bit erratic, including a nearly 3-month gap last summer (see The Saudi MOH Breaks Their Silence On MERS-CoV), and there are always questions surrounding the `sensitivity' of any disease surveillance system.
Between asymptomatic or mild cases, atypical presentations, and less than 100% reliable laboratory testing (see EID Journal: Sensitivity and Specificity Of MERS-CoV Antibody Testing), it has long been assumed we are only hearing about some fraction of the number of actual infections.While MERS-CoV hasn't taken off the way that SARS did 16 years ago, we've seen studies (see A Pandemic Risk Assessment Of MERS-CoV In Saudi Arabia) suggesting the virus doesn't have all that far to evolve before it could pose a genuine global threat.
All reasons why the World Health Organization named MERS as one of 8 priority diseases (see WHO List Of Blueprint Priority Diseases) in early 2018, that are in need of urgent accelerated research and development.
