Earth Watch Report

Medical authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia announced three new Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases today, one in the UAE and two in Saudi Arabia.

The case detected in the UAE is in a 75-year-old man from Oman who is hospitalized in Abu Dhabi, according to WAM, the UAE's state news service. The man is visiting the UAE and became ill with respiratory symptoms in October. He is being treated in the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU), according to the report.

The WAM information came from the Abu Dhabi health authority, which said it is coordinating with the UAE's health ministry and has taken steps recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The man's infection is the sixth MERS-CoV case detected in the UAE, and he is the second Omani known to be infected with the virus.

Saudi cases

Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia's health ministry said in a statement in Arabic that one of the country's newest cases involves a 72-year-old male resident of Riyadh who has several underlying chronic conditions. He is hospitalized in stable condition and is receiving treatment in the ICU.

The other Saudi case is in a previously healthy 43-year-old from Jeddah who is hospitalized in an ICU. The health ministry said the patient had not recently traveled outside of Jeddah.

The new cases announced today would lift the global total to 154 cases, including 64 deaths.

Surveillance efforts

In other developments today, Ziad A. Memish, MD, Saudi Arabia' s deputy minister for public health, spoke about MERS-CoV at the European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE) in Stockholm.

He told the group that active surveillance for the disease is under way, with a special focus on Hajj premises, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in live tweets from the meeting. He also noted that one of the key questions about MERS-CoV is why the virus behaves differently in different people, a factor that suggests transmission is more complex than previously thought.

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Earth Watch Report

European and Spanish health officials released new details today about a Spanish woman who is hospitalized with a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection after visiting Hajj holy sites in Saudi Arabia, plus efforts under way to identify those who flew with her from Jeddah to Madrid.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said today in an updated risk assessment that the 61-year-old woman with no known underlying health conditions was in Saudi Arabia from Oct 2 to Nov 1. She visited Medina, then Mecca and had no known contact with animals.

Her symptoms began Oct 15 with cough and fever, and she was seen at a hospital emergency department of a Mecca hospital on Oct 28 and 29, where health workers diagnosed her as having pneumonia, based on chest x-ray findings.

Spain's health ministry told CIDRAP News that it has relayed more details about the case to European health authorities, including that the woman refused to be hospitalized in Saudi Arabia and was hospitalized in Madrid on Nov 1 when she arrived back in Spain.

According to the ECDC, the patient was sick during the flight and needed oxygen treatment while she was aboard.

The health ministry said she was in Medina from Oct 2 through Oct 10 and in Mecca from Oct 11 through Nov 1.

The patient is still listed in stable condition and has not required intensive care, according to the health ministry.  She was placed in a private room on Nov 1, and her medical team instituted respiratory isolation measures on Nov 4 when they suspected the woman was infected with MERS-CoV.

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