WHO Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) - update December 31, 2013

Disease outbreak news



31 December 2013 – On 25 December 2013, WHO has been informed of five additional laboratory-confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia.



One of the cases is a 57 year-old male from Riyadh who was hospitalized on 17 December,  2013 and is currently in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He was laboratory confirmed on 19 December,  2013. He has underlying chronic diseases. There are no known exposures to animals or a laboratory-confirmed case, and the case has no history of traveling outside Riyadh region.



Second case is a 73 year-old male national, from Riyadh who developed respiratory symptoms and was transferred to an intensive care unit on 25 November 2013, and died on 17 December 2013. On 19 December 2013, he was laboratory confirmed for MERS-CoV. There are no known exposures to animals or a laboratory-confirmed case. In addition, he has no history of travel outside of Riyadh



Three additional cases (two males and one female) are health care workers who have not reported any symptoms.



On December 26, WHO has been informed of one new confirmed case of MERS CoV from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  In addition, UAE announced the death of the 68 year old male reported on 22 December 2013. 



The new case is a 59 year-old female from Sharjah, and is the wife of the 68 year old male reported on 22 December, 2013. She is reported to have no symptoms, no history of contact with animals and no travel history. She is currently in hospital under isolation. Other contacts have been screened and are negative for MERS-CoV.



Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 176 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 74 deaths.

Continued:  http://www.who.int/csr/don/don_updates/en/index.html