Saudia Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)

[Aramagedon]

Saudia Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)
Disease outbreak news
24 July 2015

Between 1 and 14 July 2015, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 6 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection.

Details of the cases are as follows:

• A 60-year-old, female from Alqahmah city developed symptoms on 5 July and was admitted to a hospital in Jeddah on 9 July. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 11 July. She has a history of frequent contact with camels and consumption of their raw milk. Currently, the patient is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward.
• A 77-year-old male from Jeddah city developed symptoms on 27 June and was admitted to hospital on 6 July. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 11 July. He has a history of frequent contact with camels and consumption of their raw milk. Currently, the patient is in critical condition in ICU.
• A 35-year-old, non-national male from Turubah city developed symptoms on 28 June and was admitted to hospital on 1 July. The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 2 July. He has a history of frequent contact with camels and consumption of their raw milk. Currently, the patient is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward.
• A 76-year-old male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 17 June and was admitted to hospital on 21 June. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 30 June. Currently, he is in critical condition admitted to ICU on mechanical ventilation. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.
• A 60-year-old male from Nairyah city developed symptoms on 28 June and was admitted to hospital on 29 June. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 1 July. He has a history of contact with the camels owned by one of his family members. Currently, the patient is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward.
• A 56-year-old female from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 23 June and was admitted to hospital on 28 June. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 30 June. Currently, she is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.

Contact tracing of household and healthcare contacts is ongoing for these cases.

Globally, since September 2012, WHO has been notified of 1,374 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 490 related deaths.

WHO advice
Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encourages all Member States to continue their surveillance for acute respiratory infections and to carefully review any unusual patterns.

Infection prevention and control measures are critical to prevent the possible spread of MERS-CoV in health care facilities. It is not always possible to identify patients with MERS-CoV early because like other respiratory infections, the early symptoms of MERS-CoV are non-specific. Therefore, health-care workers should always apply standard precautions consistently with all patients, regardless of their diagnosis. Droplet precautions should be added to the standard precautions when providing care to patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection; contact precautions and eye protection should be added when caring for probable or confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection; airborne precautions should be applied when performing aerosol generating procedures.

Until more is understood about MERS-CoV, people with diabetes, renal failure, chronic lung disease, and immunocompromised persons are considered to be at high risk of severe disease from MERS‐CoV infection. Therefore, these people should avoid close contact with animals, particularly camels, when visiting farms, markets, or barn areas where the virus is known to be potentially circulating. General hygiene measures, such as regular hand washing before and after touching animals and avoiding contact with sick animals, should be adhered to.

Food hygiene practices should be observed. People should avoid drinking raw camel milk or camel urine, or eating meat that has not been properly cooked.

WHO remains vigilant and is monitoring the situation. Given the lack of evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission in the community, WHO does not recommend travel or trade restrictions with regard to this event. Raising awareness about MERS-CoV among travellers to and from affected countries is good public health practice.

Public health authorities in host countries preparing for mass gatherings should ensure that all recommendations and guidance issued by WHO with respect to MERS-CoV have been appropriately taken into consideration and made accessible to all concerned officials. Public health authorities should plan for surge capacity to ensure that visitors during the mass gathering can be accommodated by health systems.

WHO | Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia

 

[Aramagedon]

New Saudi MERS case as teams publish animal studies

Jul 28, 2015
Filed Under:
MERS-CoV
Lisa Schnirring | Staff Writer | CIDRAP News

mers_virus-ajc.jpg

AJC / Flickr cc
The dribble of MERS-CoV cases continues in Saudi Arabia with one more case reported today, with disease activity flat-lining in South Korea, where the country's leader announced that the outbreak has ended.

In scientific developments, two different animal studies yielded promising findings about a two-step vaccine strategy against the virus and a possible monoclonal antibody treatment.

Saudi illness, death
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported one new MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infection, involving a 44-year-old Saudi woman from Al-Kharj, located in the south-central part of the country near Riyadh.

Hospitalized in stable condition, she is not a healthcare worker, and her contact with suspected or confirmed cases in community or hospital settings is under investigation.

Also, the MOH reported the death of a previously announced case today, that of a 60-year-old Saudi woman from Riyadh who had a preexisting health condition.

The reports lift Saudi Arabia's total from the disease to 1,056 cases, including 467 deaths. Seven people are still being treated for their infections, and 582 people have recovered.

Korea anticipates MERS-free status
With no more patients under isolation and monitoring, South Korea's prime minister Hwang Kyo-anh today said the country's MERS outbreak is over, though official World Health Organization (WHO) declaration is still a few weeks away, theKorea Times reported today.

Only one patient is waiting for tests to show that the virus has cleared from his or her system, according to the report. The WHO typically waits for two incubation periods to pass after tests show the last patient is free of the virus. For MERS-CoV, two incubation periods would be 28 days, putting the WHO's official date to the end of August, if South Korea reports no new cases in the interim.

In a statement today, the WHO's Western Pacific Region office said the country hasn't reported a new case since Jul 4, and it acknowledged that all remaining contacts were released from quarantine yesterday. The outbreak total remains at 186 cases, 36 of them fatal.

The office's director, Shin Song-soo, MD, in the statement urged countries to remain vigilant for MERS-CoV cases and for healthcare workers to continue practicing stringent infection control practices.

"In our interconnected world, pathogens can travel rapidly, and outbreaks can occur in unexpected places," Shin said in the statement. "All countries in WHO's Western Pacific Region must remain alert for the possibility of an imported case of MERS-CoV and any other infectious disease and be ready to respond swiftly and efficiently."

Since the virus emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012, the WHO said it has received reports of 1,374 MERS-CoV infections, including at least 490 deaths.

Candidate vaccine study
A prime-boost regimen of experimental vaccines against MERS-CoV showed promising results in animal studies, according to study findings published in Nature Communications today by team based at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Vaccine Research Center.

The candidate vaccines were designed with a strategy based on an understanding of viral components and their interactions with host cells, according to the NIAID. Specifically, they used information about the spike glycoprotein, which the MERS virus uses to enter cells. Using that information, the researchers designed several experimental vaccines that they gave to mice, a two-step regimen involving a priming vaccine followed several weeks later by the same or a different booster vaccine.

Currently, there is no MERS-CoV vaccine for humans, but researchers hope they can use the strategy to one day develop similar ones for humans.

The three regimens that showed the strongest response in mice were then given to groups of macaques, which had similar immune responses. Macaques don't develop typical MERS-CoV infections, but unvaccinated animals challenged with the virus had lung abnormalities consistent with pneumonia that were more severe and longer lasting than in vaccinated animals.

According to the NIAID statement, the research team is refining the vaccine candidates with a goal of testing a second-generation version in clinical trials.

Promising antibody
In another MERS countermeasure development, researchers yesterday reported on the first known isolation of a strong MERS-CoV neutralizing antibody from memory B cells of an infected patient. A Swiss-led international group of researchers published their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

They found that the antibody binds to a novel site on the spike protein, which interferes with cell receptor binding.

In mouse experiments, the monoclonal antibody was effective for prophylaxis and treatment.

New Saudi MERS case as teams publish animal studies | CIDRAP