For the second day in a row, Jordan reported a travel-related MERS-CoV case, as Saudi health officials announced six more cases from Riyadh that fit the hospital-outbreak profile, including an illness in a healthcare worker.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also released more clinical details on 13 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases reported by Saudi Arabia on Aug 22 and Aug 23, all but one linked to a hospital in Riyadh.
Since Jul 21, 117 MERS-CoV cases have been reported from Riyadh, many of them with links to a large outbreak at King Abdulaziz Medical City. A small number of illnesses have been reported at a second hospital, and other illnesses, including from a family cluster, have also been reported from the Saudi capital.
Details scarce for Jordan's second case
Yesterday Jordanian officials announced that a MERS-CoV infection has been confirmed in a 38-year-old man who had recently traveled from abroad, according to a Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) report. The report, citing a health ministry official, said the man is in critical condition in a private hospital.
The patient's illness is the 14th to be reported in Jordan, according to the health ministry.
News of a second MERS-CoV case in Jordan comes 1 day after an illness was reported in a man in his 60s who had recently traveled from Saudi Arabia and is hospitalized in critical condition.
None of the reports have said where in Saudi Arabia the first man arrived from, how either of the men arrived in Jordan, or if they had any traveling companions.
New Riyadh cases; overall deaths pass 500
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported six more cases from Riyadh, all which involved contact with a confirmed or suspected case in the community or hospital.
All are adult Saudi citizens, ranging in age from 25 to 87. Five are women, including a 25-year-old healthcare worker. Two patients are hospitalized in stable condition and four are listed as critical. The newly reported cases boost Saudi Arabia's overall MERS-CoV case count to 1,171.
The MOH said 55 people are still in treatment for their illnesses, and 9 more are on home isolation.
Two more people, both from Riyadh, have recovered from their MERS-CoV infection, which brings that total to 602 since the virus was first detected in 2012.
Also, the MOH reported that four more previously announced patients, all of them from Riyadh, have died from the disease. The deaths push Saudi Arabia's fatality count over the 500 mark, from 498 to 502. The patients were all middle-aged and older adults who had underlying medical conditions.
WHO update adds more epi information
For the second day in a row the WHO posted a detailed list of MERS-CoV patient reports that it received from Saudi Arabia, this time from Aug 22 and Aug 23 notifications. The report covers 13 cases, including 12 linked to a hospital outbreak.
Five of the people are from outside of Saudi Arabia, including three healthcare workers: two women ages 26 and 58 years and a 27-year-old man. The other two foreigners are men, ages 42 and 78 years. The younger man is a contact of two earlier lab-confirmed cases, and the older man is a contact of one previously announced case.
Two Saudi women from Riyadh—ages 40 and 57—also got sick after contact with an earlier confirmed case. The younger woman was a contact of one earlier case-patient and the older woman as a contact of two previous case-patients. Also, a 41-year-old Saudi man got sick after visiting a patient with lab-confirmed disease who was in a hospital that was experiencing an outbreak.
Three other people got sick after visiting or being treated at a hospital with an outbreak, a 69-year-old male visitor and two men ages 26 and 49 who had been admitted for treatment of preexisting medical conditions.
Overall among the patients newly reviewed by WHO, ages range from 26 to 78 years. Four are women and nine are men. Ten are hospitalized in stable condition and three are listed as critical. Illness onsets range from Aug 16 through Aug 20.
Also, the WHO said it was informed by Saudi health officials of another death in an earlier reported case.
Saudi Arabia's latest cases lift the overall global number of MERS-CoV cases reported to the WHO to 1,474, including at least 515 deaths.
See also:
Aug 27 Saudi MOH update
Aug 26 KUNA story
Aug 27 WHO update
Aug 26 CIDRAP News story "Jordan reports travel-linked MERS case, Riyadh outbreak total grows"
