#14,463
While MERS activity has been subdued the past couple of months, Epi Week 42 begins today with two new MERS cases reported by the Saudi MOH, along with a second case reported yesterday to end out Epi week 41.
Of particular note, one of today's cases is reported as `secondary' - indicating exposure to a previously known case. The other two cases are listed as primary, with `unknown' camel exposure.First, the details released on yesterday's case:
The details on today's cases:
Although the specifics of the exposure for today's `secondary' case (F,26) are not provided, the only recent case I can find anywhere near this case was of a 34 y.o. male from Abha City, Aseer Region (about 17 miles from Khamis Meshalt) from Epi Week 40.
It seems likely that today's case is either a Health Care Worker for - or possibly an acquaintance of - the case from two weeks ago.While scattered community acquired cases continue to pop up, we haven't seen any large nosocomial outbreaks since the spring. With a few notable exceptions, improved hospital infection control has successful limited the size of these types of outbreaks the past couple of years.
MERS, however, continues to mutate and evolve, and so we watch its progress with considerable interest.
