#14,518
For the third time in as many days, the Saudi MOH has announced a new MERS case from their capital city Riyadh. All involve males in their 30s who are listed as `primary' cases, with unknown camel contact.
Today's case makes the 5th MERS case reported from Riyadh this month, and the 8th MERS case reported from the Kingdom in the past 12 days. This month appears on track to exceed the number of cases reported by KSA in October (n=13).
Primary cases are those in the community with no known exposure to an infected individual. While some have recent camel exposure, many do not, and the source of their infection is rarely known.The primary infection of 3 thirty-something males over 3 days from the same city is a bit unusual, as fewer than 10% of primary MERS cases fall into that age group (see chart below).
Despite the age similarities and apparent clustering of these latest 3 cases, the Saudis have provided no information suggesting they are linked. Given the limited amount of data provided by the MOH daily reports, we may have to wait for a WHO update to learn more about these cases.
