By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
The World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean recently released the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) situation update for September 2019, which shows that during that month, a total of 4 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS were reported globally. All the 4 cases were reported from Saudi Arabia with 1 associated death.
No cluster of cases was reported and no healthcare workers were affected this month.
At the end of September 2019, a total of 2468 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS, including 851 associated deaths (case–fatality rate: 34.4%) were reported globally; the majority of these cases were reported from Saudi Arabia (2077 cases, including 773 related deaths with a case–fatality rate of 37.2%) since July 2012.
Twenty-seven reported cases globally–Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen in or close to the Arabian Peninsula and travel associated cases have been reported from Algeria, Austria, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), and United States of America (USA).
Most people confirmed to have MERS-CoV infection have had severe respiratory illness with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath
Some people also had diarrhea and nausea/vomiting. For many people with MERS, more severe complications followed, such as pneumonia and kidney failure. About 3 or 4 out of every 10 people reported with MERS have died. Most of the people who died had a pre-existing medical condition that weakened their immune system, or an underlying medical condition that hadn’t yet been discovered. Medical conditions sometimes weaken people’s immune systems and make them more likely to get sick or have severe illness.
So far in October, seven MERS cases have been reported.
