Global MERS count tops 100 with latest from Saudi Arabia

Robert Roos | News Editor | CIDRAP News
MERS-CoV
Satellite view of Saudi Arabia

Stocktrek Images

In a brief statement, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) has reported three more cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), apparently pushing the global case count over 100.

The agency said two of the cases involve a 31-year-old male citizen who has several chronic diseases and is in stable condition in intensive care, and a 55-year-old male citizen who has no symptoms. The older man had contact with a confirmed case-patient. Both cases are in the Asir province in the country's southwest.

In addition, the ministry said a 51-year-old man in Riyadh who had chronic illnesses has died of a coronavirus infection, but it didn't specify whether or not his case was reported previously. The statement apparently was issued late yesterday.

The MOH's English-language media page for MERS-CoV today listed a total of 82 cases with 41 deaths in the country. That amounts to three more cases and one more death than the page showed yesterday, suggesting that all three cases are new.

Meanwhile, the MOH still has not issued an English-language statement about two new cases and the death of a previously announced case-patient that were described in an MOH Arabic statement yesterday. A machine-translated version of the statement was posted yesterday by FluTrackers, an online infectious-disease message board.

Yesterday's new cases involved a 50-year-old and a 70-year-old in Riyadh region, and the person who died was a 54-year-old in the same area, the translated statement said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today updated its MERS-CoV page to reflect the new Saudi cases. It lists a global total of 103 cases and 49 deaths, including the 82 cases and 41 deaths in Saudi Arabia. The 103 cases are 4 more than the CDC listed yesterday; it wasn't immediately clear where the extra case came from.

The World Health Organization has not yet issued statements noting any of the Saudi Arabian cases announced in the past week.

See also:

Aug 22 MOH statement

MOH MERS media page with case count

CDC MERS-CoV page

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