Novel Coronavirus (MERS CoV) Cases - April 2012 to ...

Excellent work!

Your chart is very helpful in keeping the cases straight and up-to-date. Thanks AlohaOR.

Like H5N1, this virus has the potential to go pandemic and to be very deadly, IMO.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Dec 01, 2012 at 05:35:58 AM UTC

Thanks for opening this up

Coronavirus has me concerned, and will be monitoring this!

Meteorologist in Florida!?!  Now we're talkin'!!!

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by: Tempest @ Sun Dec 02, 2012 at 06:07:00 AM UTC

CIDRAP: Two Jordan cases in April shift novel coronavirus picture

Nov 30, 2012 (CIDRAP News) - The World Health Organization (WHO) reported today that two cases of novel coronavirus (CoV) infection occurred as part of a cluster of hospital respiratory infections in Jordan back in April. Besides adding one more to the list of affected countries, the announcement signaled that the virus emerged 2 months earlier than previously thought and increased the likelihood that it can spread from person to person.

Also today, the WHO said testing confirmed the virus in a fatal case that was part of a previously noted family cluster of four illnesses in Saudi Arabia. Today's developments increased the overall case count to nine, including five deaths, in three neighboring countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan.

The cases include five, with three deaths, in Saudi Arabia; two in Qatar; and the two fatal illnesses in Jordan. The latest count is two more than reported yesterday. Five cases involved acute renal failure.

The Jordanian illness cluster in April involved 11 people, including eight healthcare workers, in a hospital intensive care unit in Zarqa, (Snip). Health officials had mentioned the cluster previously as suspicious in light of the novel coronavirus. Until now, the first novel CoV infection was believed to be that of a Saudi man who died in his home country in June, though his case was not reported until September.

At the time of the Jordanian cluster, officials from US Naval Medical Research Unit 3 (NAMRU 3) in Cairo tested patient samples at Jordan's request and found they were all negative for known coronaviruses and other viruses, the WHO said in one of its two statements today. No specific tests for the novel virus existed at the time, since it hadn't been discovered yet.

In October, after the discovery of the novel CoV, Jordan sent stored samples to NAMRU-3 for testing, the WHO said. Recently the lab provided results that confirmed the novel virus in two of the cases. The WHO did not say how many of the patients were tested. In response to Jordan's request, WHO experts arrived in Amman on Nov 28 to help investigate the cases and strengthen the country's sentinel surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections, (Snip).

The WHO said the existence of the case clusters in Jordan and Saudi Arabia increases "the possibility of limited human-to-human transmission or, alternatively, exposure to a common source. Ongoing investigation may or may not be able to distinguish between these possibilities."

In the Saudi Arabian family cluster, two of the three confirmed cases were fatal. One more family member also had a similar illness and recovered but tested negative by polymerase chain reaction, the WHO noted.

Despite the two clusters, the WHO said, "Based on current information, it [the virus] does not appear to transmit easily between people, unlike the SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] virus." The SARS virus, also a coronavirus, sickened about 8,000 people and killed about 900 in 2003.

Saudi Arabia's deputy minister for public health, Ziad A. Memish, MD, today suggested that the virus in the Saudi Arabian family cluster may be different from the strain in the earlier cases. "We think the virus in the last family cluster is different as it had significant spread among households while none of the previous cases behaved in a similar way," (Snip).

The Jordanian cases seem to confirm the need to watch for the novel virus in places beyond just Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as recommended by the WHO lately. Last week the agency called for broader vigilance, and yesterday it offered more detailed surveillance recommendations.

The WHO reiterated those recommendations today. It said authorities should consider testing of patients with unexplained pneumonia, especially if they live in or visited the Arabian peninsula or neighboring countries. Any cluster of severe acute respiratory infections in healthcare workers should be carefully investigated, regardless of the location, the statement said.  

Continued with more information and links: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...  

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 08:02:30 AM UTC

New SARS-like Virus Infects 12 Globally with British Case

http://www.scienceworldreport....

(Cross-posted from Daily News Diary)

The mysterious, potentially deadly, SARS-like virus that is associated with travelling to the Middle East has now been officially diagnosed in another patient. It is now the third case to appear in Britain this week, and shows that the virus can be transmitted between people.

The virus is what is known as a novel coronavirus, or NCoV. The new patient was part of a cluster of three from the same family that all contracted the virus after one of them travelled to the Middle East. It's the twelfth case that has been diagnosed globally since the virus first appeared in September 2012. At that time the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an international alert to warn health professionals and the public that a previously unknown virus had infected a Qatari man in Britain who had recently been to Saudi Arabia. (snip)

Two of the patients from the family in Britain have been hospitalized in separate locations and are being cared for in isolation. The newest, third case was mild; the patient is recovering well. However, health officials have asked the patient to self-isolate and limit contact with other people. In addition, they are now following up with other household members to make sure that they too did not contract the virus. (continued)

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by: AlohaOR @ Sun Feb 17, 2013 at 04:21:18 AM UTC

Third novel coronavirus infection reported in UK family

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

(Cross-posted from Daily News Diary)

Feb 15, 2013 (CIDRAP News) - A third member of a British family has been infected with a novel coronavirus (CoV) but has had only a mild illness, UK health officials reported today, providing more evidence of person-to-person transmission of the virus and showing that it doesn't always cause severe sickness.

In a statement, the UK Health Protection agency (HPA) said the patient is a UK resident with no recent travel history and "is recovering from a mild respiratory illness and is currently well." The case raises the global total of novel CoV cases to 12, of which 5 have been fatal.

The latest case is in a family in which two other members were recently hospitalized with severe illnesses linked to the novel virus. The first case was announced Feb 11 and the second one Feb 13. The first patient got sick in January while visiting Saudi Arabia, following a visit to Pakistan; the second patient had no recent travel history.

The HPA did not list the age or gender of the third patient in the family. The other two sick family members are both men. The first patient, a 60-year-old, was co-infected with the novel CoV and the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, while the second patient has an underlying medical condition, previous reports said. [snip]

"Although this case appears to be due to person-to-person transmission, the risk of infection in contacts in most circumstances is still considered to be low," Watson said. "If novel coronavirus were more infectious, we would have expected to have seen a larger number of cases than we have seen since the first case was reported three months ago." [snip]

The UK family cluster is apparently the third cluster of novel CoV infections so far. Three of the Saudi cases were in one family, and the two Jordanian deaths were part of a cluster in a hospital intensive care unit. (continued)

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by: AlohaOR @ Sun Feb 17, 2013 at 04:27:08 AM UTC

WHO Update Feb 16 2013

http://www.who.int/csr/don/201...

(No new information beyond the prior 2 news stories)

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by: AlohaOR @ Sun Feb 17, 2013 at 04:44:31 AM UTC

Experts: New SARS-like virus could show up in U.S.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/18/...

"(CNN) -- Infectious disease experts say they wouldn't be surprised if a new virus that's sickened 12 people and killed five shows up in the United States.
The first cases of the novel coronavirus, which is in the same family as SARS and the common cold, were found to have occurred in an Amman, Jordan, hospital in April, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

There's more...

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by: Bronco Bill @ Tue Feb 19, 2013 at 11:14:38 AM UTC

Correct me if I'm wrong

The possibilities are:-

1) The thing is quite transmissible, there are many more cases out there but they're not severe, so haven't been observed.

2) similar to 1) but they have been observed and hushed up either locally or individually.

Since it's not known if the source is Saudi or another country, the reasons for a cover up could vary. If it's one of those countries that maids come from, the victims may be keeping it quiet because they don't want to jeopardise their work. And/or may not know they have something new. If it's Saudi, they may not be keen to advertise the disease, even though the Hajj is over.

3) The cases of H2H recorded are some of the first and the fatality is very high (upwards of 60% because the two on ECMO wouldn't survive if there were higher numbers needing the machines).

4) If the cases are so few and far between and it looks like at least one, probably two and possibly three unconnected H2H outbreaks, this bug really wants to go H2H and it's only a matter of time before it sustains it. What the CFR would be at that point is unknown.

They REALLY need to pin down where this thing is coming from.

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by: UK - Bird @ Wed Feb 20, 2013 at 20:12:55 PM UTC

UK cases

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/ho...

Khalid Hussain, 38 - other condition cancer
Other family member male

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by: UK - Bird @ Sun Feb 24, 2013 at 15:51:15 PM UTC

Thank you, UK-Bird

I updated the table & notes.

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by: AlohaOR @ Sun Feb 24, 2013 at 16:25:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Conflicting info on mild UK case

http://www.npr.org/blogs/healt...

[snip]

The small U.K. cluster started when a British man caught the virus on his way home from Pakistan. "He had spent a fair bit of time in Pakistan, and then traveled through Saudi Arabia," Dr. Gwen Stevens, from the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health, said at the meeting. "He was sick on the plane."

None of the other passengers caught the illness, Bermingham tells Shots. But when the the man got back to England, he passed the virus along to his 39-year-old son and a 30-year-old woman in the same family.

Bermingham said the son, who died last week, had cancer and a weakened immune system. But the woman was healthy when she got infected and recovered without seeing a doctor. "She thought it was a seasonal flu," Bermingham says. "She didn't want to see anyone about it."

[snip]

She thinks there's an another animal that passes the virus from bats to people. But what that could be is a mystery. One patient from Qatar owns a farm with sheep and camels. "He did go to his farm before he got sick, but he didn't leave his car," Bermingham tells Shots.

The Saudi Arabian health ministry's Stevens says another puzzle is why so few women have been infected. Of the 13 known cases, 11 of them have been men - and the one mild case was woman.

Back in November, the virus infected three men in a large Saudi Arabian family, but never spread to the women and children, Stevens said at the meeting. "The women taking care of the men that were infected never got ill. They were face to face with patients every day but never fell ill."

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by: UK - Bird @ Wed Feb 27, 2013 at 20:14:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

ECDC report on cases

http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/p...

see page 4 for case info agrees that mild case is female.

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by: UK - Bird @ Wed Feb 27, 2013 at 20:17:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks, UK-Bird

I corrected the table.

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by: AlohaOR @ Fri Mar 01, 2013 at 04:03:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

WHO confirms 15th case of SARS-like virus in Saudi Arabia

http://www.torontosun.com/2013...

A Saudi man infected with a deadly new virus from the same family as SARS has died, becoming the ninth patient in the world to be killed from the disease which has so far infected 15, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.

The 39-year-old developed symptoms of the novel coronavirus (NCoV) on Feb. 24 and died on March 2, several days after being hospitalised, the WHO said in a disease outbreak update

cont.

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by: UK - Bird @ Wed Mar 13, 2013 at 00:17:41 AM UTC

Another man.

Are men more likely to catch this or get seriously ill? Is there something they're doing that doesn't involve women?

This is now a fairly steady stream of deaths. Worrying.

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by: UK - Bird @ Wed Mar 13, 2013 at 00:21:00 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Some possibilities

(At least with respect to the cases in Saudi Arabia)

There are many restrictions on women traveling in Saudi Arabia.  They must be accompanied by a male guardian, they cannot drive, and they are discouraged from taking public transit.  This means that they may be less likely to be exposed to the infectious agent.

There is little social mingling of the sexes except within the home (among related people).  If men are engaging in activities that tend to expose them to the infectious agent, they are likely to only infect women in their household, but may infect other men in social/business settings.

In some parts of the country (including Riyadh), it is very common for women to be fully veiled, meaning that their faces are covered by cloth (other than their eyes), so there is at least a minimal barrier for respiratory transmission.

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by: AlohaOR @ Wed Mar 13, 2013 at 05:35:43 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks AlohaOR.

I'd forgotten about the veil thing in particular.

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by: UK - Bird @ Wed Mar 13, 2013 at 08:23:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

WHO update

is here

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by: AlohaOR @ Wed Mar 13, 2013 at 05:21:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

WHO update - 2 nCoV deaths

http://www.who.int/csr/don/201...

26 March 2013 - The Robert Koch Institute informed WHO of a new confirmed case of infection with the novel coronavirus (nCoV).

The patient was a 73-year-old male from United Arab Emirates, who was transferred from a hospital in Abu Dhabi to Munich by air ambulance on 19 March 2013. He died on 26 March 2013.

In the United Kingdom, the index patient in the family cluster reported on 11 February 2013 with travel history to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia prior to his illness, has died.

To date, WHO has been informed of a global total of 17 confirmed cases of human infection with nCoV, including 11 deaths. (continued)

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by: AlohaOR @ Wed Mar 27, 2013 at 03:01:40 AM UTC

Saudi Arabia: Pro-Med posting on nCoV cases

http://www.promedmail.org/dire...

Case 1: 59 y.o. male with multiple comorbidities. Date of onset of symptoms [14 Apr 2013] and passed away [19 Apr 2013].

Case2: 24 y.o. male with multiple comorbidities. Date of symptoms [17 Apr 2013] and still in ICU in critical but stable condition.

Case 3: 87 y.o. male with multiple comorbidities. Date of symptoms [17 Apr 2013] and passed away [28 Apr 2013].

Case 4: 58 y.o. male with multiple comorbidities. Date of symptoms [22 Apr 2013] still in ICU in stable but critical condition.

Case 5: 94 y.o. male with multiple comorbidities. Date of symptoms [22 Apr 2013] and passed away [26 Apr 2013].

Case 6: 56 y.o. male with multiple comorbidities. Date of Symptoms [22 Apr 2013] and passed away [30 Apr 2013].

Case 7: 56 y.o. male with multiple comorbidities. Date of symptoms [22 Apr 2013] and passed away [29 Apr 2013].

Case 8: 53 y.o. female with comorbidities. Date of symptoms [27 Apr 2013] she is in stable but critical condition

Case 9: 50 y.o. male with comorbidity. Date of symptoms [30 Apr 2013] with pneumonia and he is well on the inpatient ward.

Case 10: 33 y.o. male with comorbidity. Family contact of a deceased patient. Date of symptoms [28 Apr 2013]. Inpatient in the medical ward and doing well.

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by: AlohaOR @ Sat May 04, 2013 at 03:34:28 AM UTC

More info on Tunisian cluster

Novel coronavirus infection - update 22 May 2013
------------------------------------------------
The Ministry of Health in Tunisia has notified WHO of 2 laboratory-confirmed cases and a probable case of infection with the novel coronavirus (nCoV) [MERS-CoV].

The 2 laboratory confirmed cases are a 34-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman. They are siblings. Both of them had mild respiratory illness and did not require hospitalization. Retrospective investigation into the cases revealed that the probable case, their father, 66 years old, became ill 3 days after returning from a visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia on 3 May 2013. He was admitted to a hospital after developing acute respiratory disease. His condition deteriorated and he died on 10 May 2013. He had an underlying health condition. Initial laboratory tests conducted on the probable case tested negative for nCoV [MERS-CoV].

http://www.promedmail.org/

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by: Ruby Murray @ Wed May 22, 2013 at 22:18:07 PM UTC