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| Original Map Credit Wikipedia |
#14,506
Overnight the Saudi MOH added three additional MERS cases - including the 5th case over the past 30 days from Wadi Aldwasir - the site of a very large outbreak (60+ cases & 8 deaths) last spring.
On Sunday, the Saudi MOH announced a `secondary' case from Wadi Aldwasir, involving a 49 y.o. female, although the exact circumstances surrounding her infection are not known.Today's cases are dated 11/4 and 11/5, indicating a belated posting on the MOH website, so it is possible we could see see another release later today. All three of today's cases (Wadi Aldwasir, Riyadh, and Buraidah) are older males (ages 65, 73 & 83), listed as `primary' and with recent camel contact.
While cases remain scattered, we've seen a noticeable uptick in the number of cases since the 1st of October (see chart below), with 9 new infections reported in the past 9 days.
Since the initial signs of MERS infection are often similar to a cold or the flu, differentiating who is - and who isn't - infected can be a extremely difficult, even for doctors accustomed to seeing cases (see Evaluation of a Visual Triage for the Screening of MERS-CoV Patients).
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 is generally assumed we are only hearing about some fraction of the total number of actual infections.While the Saudis have made great strides in reducing large hospital outbreaks in recent years - with the winter respiratory season fast approaching, and its accompanying background viral `noise' sure to increase - it will only become more difficult to detect, and isolate, MERS cases quickly.
Stay tuned.
