New Case of MERS-CoV is Reported to WHO

March 26, 2014

On March 20, 2014, the National IHR Focal Point of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of an additional laboratory-confirmed case of infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). A 49-year-old man from Abu Dhabi with underlying medical conditions was admitted to a hospital on February 27 and was discharged on March 9 following improvement in his condition. On March 16, he was readmitted to the hospital and is currently in a critical condition. Laboratory-confirmation was done on March 19. The patient has no history of recent travel. He has no reported contact with animals but had contact with a recent laboratory-confirmed case notified to WHO on March 11. Both the patients received treatment in the same hospital on March 1. Further epidemiological Investigation is ongoing.

On March 20, 2014, the National IHR Focal Point of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of an additional laboratory-confirmed case of infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

A 49-year-old man from Abu Dhabi with underlying medical conditions was admitted to a hospital on February 27 and was discharged on March 9 following improvement in his condition. On March 16, he was readmitted to the hospital and is currently in a critical condition. Laboratory-confirmation was done on March 19. The patient has no history of recent travel. He has no reported contact with animals but had contact with a recent laboratory-confirmed case notified to WHO on March 11. Both the patients received treatment in the same hospital on March 1. Further epidemiological Investigation is ongoing.

Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 199 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 84 deaths.

Source: WHO