Saudi Arabia and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported three new MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases in that country today, all of them in women, two of whom are healthcare workers.
One of the patients is a 67-year-old Saudi citizen in Riyadh who has various chronic diseases and is being treated in a hospital intensive care unit, the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a very brief statement.
In its own announcement, the WHO said the woman fell ill on Jul 25 and has had no known exposures to animals or to other MERS-CoV patients.
The other two patients are both 39-year-old female healthcare workers, one living in the southwestern region of Asir and other in Riyadh, the MOH said. It said both women have mild symptoms and are in stable condition.
The MOH statement gave no details on how the two patients were exposed to the virus, but the WHO said both had contact with patients who had confirmed MERS cases.
Several other cases have been reported recently in Asir, including one reported Jul 25 in an 83-year-old man and two others reported Jul 17 in a 26-year-old man and a 42-year-old female healthcare worker.
With the three new cases, Saudi Arabia's posted MERS tally increases to 74 cases with 39 deaths. The cases raise the WHO's MERS count to 94 cases and 46 deaths.
See also:
Aug 1 Saudi MOH statement
Aug 1 WHO statement
Saudi MOH page with MERS case count
