Monday, January 13, 2020

CDC Update & Risk Assessment: Novel Coronavirus (Jan 13th)

Location Wuhan, China - Credit CDC
















#14,649


It is now just two weeks since the first report of an unidentified pneumonia began to emerge from Wuhan China, and its only been over the past several days that it has been identified as an emerging novel coronavirus. 
Up until a few hours ago, no cases had been identified outside of Wuhan City, but today we learned that a traveler from Wuhan to Bangkok, Thailand has tested positive. 
While it still isn't clear whether (or how well) this virus might be spreading or what its (presumed) zoonotic host might be, government agencies around the world are keeping very close tabs on developments, including our own CDC.

Last week the CDC published a HAN Advisory: Pneumonia of Unknown Etiology (PUE) in Wuhan, China), and over the weekend they set up a 2019 Novel Coronavirus webpage. Sometime in the last couple of hours the CDC has updated their Coronavirus website to include the latest on the exported case in Thailand.

Novel Coronavirus 2019 (nCoV-2019), Wuhan, China

Updated January 13, 2020
Situation Summary:
On January 11, 2020, Chinese health authorities preliminarily identified more than 40 human infections with a novel coronavirus in an outbreak of pneumonia under investigation in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. Chinese health authorities subsequently posted the full genome of the so-called “novel coronavirus 2019” or “nCoV-2019” in GenBank ®, the NIH genetic sequence database. Subsequently, on January 13, Thailand confirmed detection of a human infection with nCoV-2019 in a traveler from Wuhan City to Thailand.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some causing illness in people and others that circulate among animals, including camels, cats and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can evolve and infect people and then spread between people such as has been seen with MERS and SARS. The outbreak in Wuhan, China has been reported to be linked to a large seafood and animal market, suggesting a possible zoonotic origin to the outbreak.
There is an ongoing investigation to determine more about this outbreak. This is a rapidly evolving situation and information will be updated as it becomes available.
The World Health Organizationexternal icon (WHO) provided updated guidance specific to this response the evening of January 10, 2020. Clinicians should use WHO guidance until CDC guidance is updated in the coming days.
Risk Assessment:
Outbreaks of novel virus infections among people are always of public health concern. The associated risk posed by such outbreaks depends on characteristics of the virus, including whether and how well it spreads between people, the severity of resulting illness, and the medical or other countermeasures available to control the impact of the virus.
Chinese health authorities report that to date in this outbreak, most infections with novel coronavirus 2019 have had some exposure to one large seafood and animal market. They report no confirmed person-to-person spread of this virus. Authorities also report that several hundred contacts, including health care workers caring for outbreak patients, are being monitored and no additional illnesses have been detected. One patient in China is reported to have died. Seven patients have reportedly had severe illness.
There is no public information on the exact source of the infection of the patient in Thailand beyond travel from Wuhan.
There is much more to learn about the transmissibility, severity, and other features associated with this novel coronavirus, and investigations are ongoing. Based on current information, however, the risk from the novel coronavirus 2019 to the American public is deemed to be low at this time. Nevertheless, CDC is taking proactive preparedness precautions.
What to Expect
Access to the full genetic sequence of novel coronavirus 2019 will facilitate identification of infections with this virus going forward. It is possible that more cases will be identified in the coming days. This is an ongoing investigation and so far, there have been no confirmed reports of person-to-person spread with this virus, however, given what has occurred previously with MERS and SARS, some limited person-to-person spread would not be surprising.
CDC Response:
  • CDC is closely monitoring this situation and is working with WHO.
  • CDC has established an Incident Management Structure to optimize domestic and international coordination to this emerging public health threat.
  • CDC has updated its interim travel health notice for this destination to provide information to people who may be traveling to Wuhan City and who may get sick.
  • CDC has issued an interim Health Alert Notice (HAN) Advisory to inform state and local health departments and health care providers about this outbreak. An updated Health Alert Notice (HAN) is in development.
  • CDC laboratories currently have the capacity to detect nCoV-2019 by sequencing virus isolates and comparing the sequences against the genetic sequence posted in GenBank. CDC also is using the genetic sequence data provided by China to begin work on a test to detect this virus more easily. Currently, testing for this virus must take place at CDC.
This is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation and CDC will provide updated information as it becomes available, in addition to updated guidance in the coming days on how to investigate possible infections with this new coronavirus.
Other Available Resources
The following resources are available with current information on the unnamed novel coronavirus
Page last reviewed: January 13, 2020
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