Saturday, September 14, 2013

Risk of #MERS persists in Europe, ECDC says

September 13, 2013

Europe faces a continuing risk of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases, given the ongoing detection of cases in the Middle East, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a short update on the topic today.

"Surveillance for cases is essential, particularly with expected increased travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj in October," the ECDC said in this week's Communicable Disease Threats Report for Sep 8 through 14.

The ECDC put the total number of MERS-CoV cases at 132, with 57 deaths. The agency reported 108 cases (both symptomatic and asymptomatic) with 47 deaths in Saudi Arabia, which differs from Saudi Arabia's own posted count of 104 cases and 47 deaths.

"The reason for the discrepancy between the number of cases reported for Saudi Arabia here and in the official Saudi Ministry of Health [MOH] website area is unclear and is being investigated," the ECDC said.

The ECDC global case count of 132 also exceeds the 130 cases listed here 2 days ago in the wake of the latest Saudi Arabian reports of a total of eight new cases. The World Health Organization has not issued an update on MERS-CoV cases since Sep 7.

Continued:  http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2013/09/news-scan-sep-13-2013

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