Riyadh: From April 10 to 17, the Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus caused three human cases, including one death, according to information provided to the World Health Organisation (WHO) by the Saudi Ministry of Health.
As stated in the WHO bulletin, all three instances were males from Riyadh, aged 56 to 60, with preexisting medical issues. They were not employed in the medical field.
The three cases are epidemiologically connected to exposures in a Riyadh medical institution, but WHO stated that further research is needed to confirm this and determine the exact mode of transmission. Two deaths and four cases have been recorded in Saudi Arabia since the year's beginning, NDTV reported.
The WHO's overall risk assessment is unchanged by the notification of these cases; it is still moderate on a global and regional scale.
The MERS coronavirus (CoV) is the virus that causes MERS, a respiratory illness. According to the WHO, about 36% of MERS patients have passed away. However, this figure may be overestimated because the case fatality ratio is solely based on laboratory-confirmed cases, and mild instances of MERS-CoV may go unreported by current surveillance systems.
Direct or indirect contact with dromedary camels, the virus's natural host and zoonotic source, can result in human infection of MERS-CoV. Human-to-human transmission of MERS-CoV has been shown.
Human-to-human non-sustained transmission has thus far only happened in close quarters and in medical facilities. According to WHO, there has only been a little amount of human-to-human transmission outside of healthcare environments.
Several vaccines and therapies specific to MERS-CoV are being developed, however, as of right now, neither a vaccination nor a specific treatment is available. Based on the patient's symptoms and clinical status, supportive care is provided.
Between April 2024 and the first MERS-CoV case report in Saudi Arabia in 2012, 2,204 human cases and 860 deaths have been documented. In all, 27 countries across all six WHO regions have reported 2,613 cases of MERS-CoV and 941 deaths.
In May 2015, there was a significant outbreak in South Korea, which was outside the Middle East. It was described as a health care-associated infection, and 38 deaths and 186 laboratory-confirmed cases (one in China and 185 in South Korea) were recorded. The WHO noted that the index case, or initial patient, in that outbreak had previously travelled to the Middle East.