News Scan for Aug 25, 2015

News brief

MERS sickens eight more in Riyadh outbreak

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported eight more lab-confirmed Middle East respiratory coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases, one of them fatal and all from Riyadh, where a large hospital-linked outbreak is ongoing. The MOH also said five case-patients announced previously have died from their infections.

All of the patients—five men and three women—are adults, with ages ranging from 30 to 81 years old. Two are foreign healthcare workers, a 30-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man. Exposure to confirmed or suspected contacts has been pinned down for one patient but is still under review for the other seven.

The newly confirmed patient who died was a 69-year-old woman. Among the other new cases, five are hospitalized in stable condition and two are listed as critical.

Meanwhile, the five deaths in previously announced case-patients are all from Riyadh and are adults ranging from ages 56 to 87. The group includes four men and two women. All five of them had underlying medical conditions, a common theme in people who die from MERS-CoV infections.

Currently, 57 people are still being treated for their illnesses and nine are on home isolation. Six recent patients from Riyadh have recovered from their MERS-CoV infections, raising the overall recovery number since the virus was first detected in 2012 to 598.

Today's developments lift the country's overall total from the disease to 1,162 cases, which includes 498 deaths.
Aug 25 Saudi MOH statement

High-path avian flu outbreak reported in Taiwan

Taiwanese agriculture officials responded to two outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N2 in poultry earlier this month, according to a report filed yesterday with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

The virus struck poultry farms in Changhua County's Dacheng Township, located on Taiwan's western coast, on Aug 1 and Aug 8.

In the first outbreak, the virus killed 6,640 of 21,500 susceptible birds, and the remaining 14,860 were culled to stop the spread of the virus. The same virus killed 5,312 of 38,000 susceptible birds during the second outbreak, and the remaining 32,688 birds were destroyed.

Taiwanese officials have increased surveillance of poultry farms within a 3-kilometer radius of the infected area.
Aug 24 OIE report

ICEID Scan for Aug 25, 2015

News brief

Study sorts out MERS and SARS epi patterns

A side-by-side look at MERS-CoV and SARS infection patterns shows differences and some similarities, according to a study presented this week at the International Conference on Emerging and Infectious Diseases (ICEID) in Atlanta.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is infecting fewer people but has a higher mortality rate compared with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), found the researchers, who are from Arizona State University.

The comparison also showed that middle-aged men (median age 50) who have multiple chronic health conditions are targets for MERS-CoV. Meanwhile, SARS doesn't seem to discriminate by gender and seems to infect both healthy people as well as those with underlying conditions.

However, both diseases spread quickly in hospitals and hospital workers, with healthcare workers making up 21% of cases for both MERS-CoV and SARS, according to the study findings. The research team based its findings on World Health Organization summary reports and cumulative reports for the 2003 SARS outbreak. The ICEID meeting is convened by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).
Aug 24 ASM press release

RSV detected on neonatal intensive care unit surfaces

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was detected on clothing and surfaces in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during seasonal periods of high virus circulation, according to findings presented yesterday in Atlanta at the ongoing ICEID meeting.

RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization from respiratory illness among premature infants. The study, conducted in the NICU of the Royal Hospital for Women in Sidney, Australia, found that infants receiving intensive care may be at risk for RSV infection when community circulation of and hospital admissions for RSV are high.

The researchers found that 4% of swabs taken from NICU caregivers' and visitors' clothing were contaminated with RSV, and RSV was found on 9% of NICU high-touch surfaces, including bed rails and computers. The virus was not detected on the hands of healthcare workers or visitors.

Though the study was unable to determine whether the virus remained infectious on clothing or hard surfaces, investigators recommend frequent cleaning of high-touch surfaces in the NICU as well as screening visitors for RSV symptoms.
Aug 24 ICEID abstract
Aug 24 ASM press release

Influenza vaccine provides 6-month protection from respiratory illness

A study of non–active duty Department of Defense (DoD) beneficiaries found that the protection provided by influenza vaccination lasted up to 6 months, according to findings presented yesterday at the ICEID.

Researchers from the Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, Calif., conducted febrile respiratory illness surveillance of 1,720 DoD beneficiaries at three outpatient clinics in San Diego and Great Lakes, Ill., from 2010 to 2014.

Flu vaccination reduced the risk of a doctor visit by 50% to 70% over the course of a flu season. Protection against influenza lasted for 6 months following vaccination, suggesting that administering the flu vaccine in the fall may prevent a greater number of flu infections.

The study noted that flu vaccination provided little to no protection against influenza after 6 months, highlighting the importance of yearly vaccination.
Aug 24 ICEID abstract
Aug 24 ASM press release