#14,558
After a relatively busy October and first half of November, MERS reports coming out of Saudi Arabia have slowed the past couple of weeks. Last week, only one case was reported, and today, we have the first report of Epi Week 49.
Today's report involves a 68 y.o. male from the Eastern Province, who is listed as a `primary' case, with recent camel contact.
Despite the recent slowdown, 2019's case count thus far (n=201) is more than 40% higher than was reported by the Saudis in 2018 (n=142).
Since some MERS cases may be mild, often with symptoms similar to that of 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).
Add in asymptomatic cases, atypical presentations, and less than 100% reliable laboratory testing (see EID Journal: Sensitivity and Specificity Of MERS-CoV Antibody Testing), and it is generally assumed we are only hearing about some fraction of the total number of actual infections.With the winter respiratory season fast approaching, and its accompanying background viral `noise' sure to increase - over the next few months it will become even more challenging to detect, and isolate, MERS cases quickly.
