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WHO: Additional MERS case, deaths reported in Saudi Arabia, UAE
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Health officials reported a new fatal infection of Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, coronavirus, in Saudi Arabia. WHO also confirmed the death of a previously reported MERS case in the United Arab Emirates.
Globally, there have been a total of 181 laboratory-confirmed MERS cases, including 79 deaths — a 43% fatality rate.
The fatal case in Saudi Arabia was identified as a 60-year-old man from Riyadh with pre-existing medical conditions who became ill Jan. 19. The patient was hospitalized Jan. 24 and died Jan. 28. It is unknown whether the patient had contact with animals, but he had no reported contact with anyone with confirmed MERS infection, according to WHO.
On Jan. 16, a 33-year-old health care worker (HCW) from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, also died. The HCW was in contact with another confirmed MERS case and developed symptoms Dec. 27. The patient was hospitalized Dec. 28 with bilateral pneumonia, acute renal failure and thrombocytopenia, according to WHO. The patient had a history of bronchial asthma and chronic kidney disease.
“Early identification of [MERS] is important, but not all the cases could be reliably and timely detected, especially when disease is mild or presents atypically,” WHO officials stated in a news release. “Therefore, it is important to ensure that standard precautions are consistently used for all patients and all work practices all of the time, regardless of suspected or confirmed infection with [MERS] or any other pathogen. Droplet precautions should be added when providing care to all patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection, and contact precautions plus eye protection should be added when caring for confirmed or probable cases of [MERS] infection. Airborne precautions are indicated when performing aerosol generating procedures.”