[This update will be posted on the right side-bar for future reference. Editing is mine.]
Since April 2012, 94 laboratory-confirmed and 16 probable
cases of human infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome
coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have been reported to WHO. Affected countries in
the Middle East include Jordan, Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), and Qatar; in Europe countries affected include: France,
Germany, the United Kingdom (UK) and Italy; and in North Africa:
Tunisia. Infections presumably acquired through exposure to non-human
sources have all occurred in the Middle East; limited transmission in
the countries of Europe and North Africa has occurred in close contacts
of recent travelers from the Middle East. No new countries have reported
MERS-CoV cases since the last update; the last exported case to a
country outside the Middle East was in June 2013.
Since the last update, 15 new laboratory-confirmed cases of
MERS-CoV were reported by KSA and UAE, bringing the total to 94 cases.
Forty-seven (50%) of these have died. Fifty-five of 90 confirmed cases
(61%) for which the sex is known were male, and the median age of the
confirmed cases with known age (n=89) is 50 years (range, 14 months to
94 years).
Two small clusters have been reported since the last update.
One cluster occurred in a health care setting in UAE. The index case was
an 83-year-old UAE resident without history of travel or contact with
other confirmed cases. He had an underlying malignant disease and was
hospitalized in Abu Dhabi with respiratory symptoms on 6 July 2013. He
was noted to own a farm with a variety of animals, which he visited
often. He tested positive for MERS-CoV in lower and upper respiratory
tract samples on 10 July. His condition deteriorated and he developed
the acute respiratory distress syndrome and died. Although infection
prevention and control measures were reported to be in place and the
patient was isolated, four secondary cases were reported in health care
workers with exposure to the patient. Two of them developed a mild
disease and the other two remained asymptomatic.
Two cases were reported in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia;
both of these had previous contact with a confirmed case. The index case
in this cluster was thought to be a 66-year-old male from Asir with an
underlying medical condition who died of MERS-CoV infection. One
secondary case is a male family member, 26 years of age, and the other
secondary case is a 42-year-old health care worker. Both experienced
mild disease, with no hospitalization required.
For further details regarding the cases please refer to: Disease Outbreak News
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/coronavirus_infections/update_20130813/en/index.html
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