The city of Hofuf in eastern Saudi Arabia continues to be a MERS hot spot, as authorities reported two more cases there on Jun 6 and another one today.
In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) offered details Jun 6 on five earlier cases in Hofuf, one of them fatal.
Hofuf has had a string of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases in recent weeks, including a family cluster that was reported May 11 and a number of hospital-related infections. Sixteen of 20 cases reported by the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) since May 25 have been in Hofuf, and the city has accounted for 25 of the 43 Saudi cases noted since May 1.
The cases reported by the MOH on Jun 6 involved two Saudi men, ages 65 and 56, the older one in critical condition and the younger one stable. The ministry said their exposure histories are under investigation.
The illness reported today is in a 72-year-old Saudi man who is in critical condition. He had contact with other MERS patients in a community or hospital setting but is not a healthcare worker, the MOH said.
Five cases in WHO update
The Jun 6 WHO update covers case information it received from Saudi authorities between Jun 1 and 4. Of the five cases, only two appear to be possibly hospital-related. That contrasts with a WHO update on Jun 4, which described 7 Hofuf cases that all involved hospital exposures.
One of the five cases involves a 50-year-old non-Saudi healthcare worker who had cared for a MERS patient from May 14 to 19 and then fell ill on May 22, the WHO said. He tested positive for the virus on Jun 1 and is now asymptomatic and in home isolation.
The other patient with a possible healthcare exposure to the virus was a 54-year-old man from Hofuf who died on Jun 2, the agency said. He was hospitalized for an unrelated condition May 16 and was referred to another hospital 3 days later; his MERS symptoms appeared on May 27.
The WHO did not say whether the patient had any exposure to MERS in the hospitals, only that his exposure history was being investigated.
Of the other three patients, one is a 50-year-old male health professional from Hofuf, but he had no history of exposure to known MERS risk factors in the 2 weeks before he got sick on May 19 the agency said. He was in stable condition.
Exposure histories were still under investigation for the other two patients. They are:
- A 64-year-old Hofuf man who got sick on May 20, was hospitalized Jun 1, and was stable.
- A 45-year-old Hofuf man who had his first symptoms May 26, was hospitalized 3 days later, and was in critical condition.
The MOH has counted a total of 1,027 MERS cases, of which 450 were fatal. Twelve cases remain active, and 2 patients are in home isolation.
See also:
Jun 8 MOH statement
Jun 6 MOH statement
Jun 6 WHO statement
Jun 4 CIDRAP News story on Jun 4 WHO update
