Camel exposure cited in latest Saudi MERS illness
Ending a 9-day stretch with no new cases, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday reported a MERS-CoV infection in a 72-year-old man from Hail in the north central part of the country, according to an MOH notification.
The man is in stable condition, and an investigation into the source of his illness found that he had contact with camels before he got sick.
His illness raises Saudi Arabia's MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) total to 1,383 cases, 592 of them fatal. Two other people are still being treated for their illnesses.
May 15 Saudi MOH statement
PAHO reports 3,000 new chikungunya cases
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) late last week reported 3,095 new suspected and confirmed cases of chikungunya, bringing the 2016 total to 86,694 cases.
A large share of the new cases of the mosquito-borne disease came from Argentina, which jumped from 171 cases the week before to 2,354 last week, a 1,283-case increase. PAHO also noted in the May 13 report that Colombia had 481 new cases and 13,510 for the year. Honduras was next with 337 new cases and 8,315 total. Many countries, though, have not reported new cases for many weeks.
In the previous 2 weeks, PAHO reported 28,317 and 996 new cases, respectively. No new deaths were reported last week, keeping that number at 12 for the year, all in Brazil.
The outbreak was first reported in December 2013 on St. Martin in the Caribbean with the first recorded cases of the disease in the Americas. Since then PAHO has reported 1,966,661 suspected or confirmed cases, including 280 fatalities.
May 13 PAHO update
H5N1 avian flu hospitalizes Egyptian man
Egypt's health ministry yesterday announced an avian influenza infection, likely H5N1, in a 50-year-old man from Dakahlia governorate, according to a statement and a related media report translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board. Dakahlia governorate is in northern Egypt, north of Cairo.
The man is receiving hospital treatment, and the health ministry urged people who become ill with flulike symptoms after contact with poultry to go to the nearest hospital for prompt treatment with oseltamivir (Tamiflu). The agency urged people to take precautions when handling poultry, to keep children away from poultry breeding and slaughter sites, and to keep the birds out of living quarters.
Egypt has had five H5N1 cases this year, according to earlier official statements. The number is far less than the unprecedented spike of cases during the first half of 2015, which sickened at least 134 people.
May 15 FluTrackers thread
