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Epidemic Hazard in China – Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong [ New Territories North Animal Management Centre (NTNAMC), Sheung Shui] : SARS

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Today Epidemic Hazard China Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong [ New Territories North Animal Management Centre (NTNAMC), Sheung Shui] Damage level
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Epidemic Hazard in China on Tuesday, 27 November, 2012 at 04:54 (04:54 AM) UTC.

Description
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health is today (November 26) conducting a joint investigation with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) into a suspected outbreak of respiratory disease involving five AFCD staff working in the New Territories North Animal Management Centre (NTNAMC) in Sheung Shui. They were all males aged between 27 and 64 with onset of symptoms from November 6 to November 24. The first case affected a 64-year-old man who presented with upper respiratory symptoms since November 6. He was admitted to a hospital in Australia since November 12. The second case is a 55-year-old man. He developed chills, cough and sore throat since November 8 and fever, shortness of breath, headache and myalgia since November 19. He was admitted to Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) on November 22. His chest X-ray showed bilateral upper zone patchiness and the clinical diagnosis was pneumonia. He is now receiving care in the Intensive Care Unit of QMH in stable condition.

Respiratory and urine specimens taken from the 55-year-old patient at QMH tested by the hospital yielded negative results for influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Legionnaires’ Disease, while test results for psittacosis and leptospirosis are pending. CHP’s Public Health Laboratory Centre performed tests on the patient’s respiratory specimens and it was negative for Novel Coronavirus associated with Severe Respiratory Disease. The third case affected a 62-year-old man who developed bilateral red eyes on November 12, and was admitted to Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital on November 17 because of cough with blood-stained sputum, malaise, chills, rigors and sore throat. His condition was stable. The diagnosis was pneumonia. Preliminary laboratory testing for influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, RSV and adenovirus was negative. The fourth case is a 27-year-old man. He developed fever, headache and malaise on November 14 and was admitted to Yan Chai Hospital on November 18. The diagnosis was pneumonia. He recovered after treatment and was discharged home on November 22 and his condition was stable. The fifth case affected a 62-year old man who presented with cough, chills and rigor since November 24 and was admitted to Princess Margaret Hospital for further management on November 26. His condition is stable. The home contacts of the patients are asymptomatic.

CHP staff conducted a site visit to NTNAMC today and provided health advice to the staff. According to the information provided by AFCD, there is a batch of 16 seized parrots being kept in NTNAMC since October 20. Subsequently, three died and 10 were euthanised as precautionary measures. The health condition of the three surviving birds is being closely monitored. The possibility of psittacosis outbreak among these staff is being actively investigated. The investigation is underway.

Biohazard name: SARS
Biohazard level: 4/4 Hazardous
Biohazard desc.: Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in humans, and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, hantaviruses, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other hemorrhagic or unidentified diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, autonomous detection system, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. All air and water service going to and coming from a Biosafety Level 4 (P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release.
Symptoms:
Status: suspected

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Epidemic Hazard MultiCountries Quatar, Saudi Arabia, [The area was not defined.] – global alert after six cases of a virus resembling the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) UPDATE

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28.11.2012 Epidemic Hazard MultiCountries Quatar, Saudi Arabia, [The area was not defined.] Damage level
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Details of Situation Update

Epidemic Hazard in MultiCountries on Saturday, 24 November, 2012 at 04:53 (04:53 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Wednesday, 28 November, 2012 at 15:39 UTC
Description
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a global alert after six cases of a virus resembling the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) were discovered in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Two of the six cases confirmed by laboratories have been fatal, leading to fears of an outbreak similar to the original SARS virus in 2002-03, which killed around 10 percent of the 8,000 humans infected. “From our understanding of the virus so far, and given the enhanced surveillance that is in place, we expect to see more cases reported and confirmed,” WHO spokesman, Glen Thomas, told IRIN. “We also expect to see more cases from countries other than the two that have confirmed cases so far.” WHO scientists are trying to find out the cause of the infections, and ascertain whether the virus is moving from human to human. A study published by scientists from the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam last week found similarities between the new SARS-like virus and a virus found in bats in Saudi Arabia.

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Epidemic Hazard in Jordan : SARS UPDATE

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03.12.2012 Epidemic Hazard Jordan Zarqa Governorate, Zarqa Damage level
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Epidemic Hazard in Jordan on Saturday, 01 December, 2012 at 04:41 (04:41 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Sunday, 02 December, 2012 at 19:24 UTC
Description
Jordan’s health minister has said that two deaths in the kingdom from a SARS-like virus earlier this year which were confirmed by the World Health Organisation last week were isolated cases. “Since April, the health ministry has not recorded any case of the coronavirus in Jordan,” Abdullatif Wreikat said in comments carried by the official Petra news agency on Sunday. The WHO reported that as of Friday two deaths in Jordan were among five confirmed deaths from the new virus in the Middle East this year. “These cases were discovered through testing of stored samples from a cluster of pneumonia cases that occurred in April 2012,” the UN agency said. Wreikat said that Jordan carried out its own tests at the time when two doctors and nine nurses at a state hospital in the city of Zarqa east of Amman all came down with pneumonia, and a nurse and a university student died. But the lab results conducted came back negative for bird flu, swine flu, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and other tested strains of the coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, that can cause illnesses in humans ranging from the common cold to SARS.

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Epidemic Hazard in Jordan – SARS UPDATE

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2 04.12.2012 Epidemic Hazard Jordan Zarqa Governorate, Zarqa Damage level
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Deatils of Situation Update

Epidemic Hazard in Jordan on Saturday, 01 December, 2012 at 04:41 (04:41 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Tuesday, 04 December, 2012 at 03:56 UTC
Description
Following the recent retrospective confirmation of two fatal infections with a novel coronavirus (CoV) in Jordan, the Jordanian health ministry said no more such cases have surfaced in the country since April, according to media reports. “Since April, the health ministry has not recorded any case of the coronavirus in Jordan,” Health Minister Abdullatif Wreikat said in comments reported by the official Petra news agency yesterday, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report. On Nov 30 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that tests identified the novel CoV in 2 of 11 people, including 8 healthcare workers, who had severe respiratory infections in a hospital intensive care unit in Zarqa, Jordan, in April. The cases increased the global tally of novel CoV cases to nine, with 5 deaths. There was no word today on further tests results for any of the people in the Jordanian illness cluster. Besides the Jordanian cases, five cases, with three deaths, have been reported in Saudi Arabia and two cases in Qatar. Three of the five Saudi cases were part of a family cluster.

In other developments, the Canadian government on Nov 30 urged travelers to take precautions in light of the novel coronavirus. In an updated travel health notice, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said travelers may be subject to quarantine in some countries, including Saudi Arabia, if they show signs of a flu-like illness. The notice advises people to postpone travel if they have flu-like symptoms. It also recommends good respiratory hygiene and says people who have breathing difficulty after returning from a trip should seek immediate medical attention. Canada was among the countries affected in 2003 by the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus, another coronavirus that can cause severe pneumonia. Meanwhile, the WHO today released a revised set of frequently asked questions about the novel CoV. It stresses how little is known about the pathogen, noting that officials don’t know how people become infected or whether they can spread the virus to others. But unlike the SARS virus, the new virus does not appear to spread easily from person to person, the agency commented.

In the cases so far, the WHO said, “common symptoms have been acute, serious respiratory illness with fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. Based on current clinical experience, the infection generally presents as pneumonia.” Five cases involved acute renal failure, according to previous reports. The WHO also updated its surveillance guidance for the novel CoV today. The latest version includes only some alteration in wording for clarity, with no substantive changes. In other reporting, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) supplied a recap of the novel CoV situation in its weekly communicable disease update today.

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Epidemic Hazard – United Kingdom, England, Manchester : SARS – A new virus related to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) has been found in a patient in Britain who recently visited the Middle East and Pakistan.

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Today Epidemic Hazard United Kingdom England, Manchester Damage level
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Epidemic Hazard in United Kingdom on Monday, 11 February, 2013 at 17:22 (05:22 PM) UTC.

Description
A new virus related to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) has been found in a patient in Britain who recently visited the Middle East and Pakistan. Officials have confirmed the patient was diagnosed with the coronavirus, which has infected ten people globally and killed five, and is receiving intensive treatment in a Manchester hospital. Britain’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) said in a statement it was providing advice to ensure the British patient was treated appropriately and healthcare staff were protected. ‘Our assessment is that the risk associated with novel coronavirus to the general UK population remains extremely low and the risk to travellers to the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding countries remains very low,’ the HPA said. Sars caused a global alert last September and the new virus makes the victim exhibit similar symptoms, including severe respiratory illness, fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. The bug was identified when the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued an international alert last September saying a virus previously unknown in humans had infected a Qatari man who had recently been in Saudi Arabia. People who have had contact with the patient are also being tracked to check on their health. Coronaviruses are typically spread like other respiratory infections, such as flu but the WHO has said it does not spread easily from person to person.
Biohazard name: SARS
Biohazard level: 4/4 Hazardous
Biohazard desc.: Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in humans, and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, hantaviruses, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other hemorrhagic or unidentified diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, autonomous detection system, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. All air and water service going to and coming from a Biosafety Level 4 (P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release.
Symptoms:
Status: confirmed

New SARS-like virus infects British patient in tenth case globally

By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:41pm EST

(Reuters) – A new virus from the same family as SARS that sparked a global alert last September has been found in another patient in Britain, health officials said on Monday.

The latest case of infection with the new virus known as a coronavirus brings the total number confirmed globally to 10, of whom five have died.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the latest infection was “a sporadic case” and did not alter the WHO’s risk assessment. It added, however, that the new case “does indicate that the virus is persistent”.

The British patient, who recently had traveled to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, is receiving intensive care treatment in hospital in the city of Manchester, northern England.

The new virus, which the WHO refers to as novel coronavirus or NCoV, shares some of the symptoms of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – a coronavirus which emerged in China in 2002 and killed about a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.

Symptoms include severe respiratory illness, fever, coughing and breathing difficulties.

 

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A Saudi man infected with a deadly new virus from the same family as SARS has died, becoming the ninth patient in the world to be killed by NCoV, reports WHO

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WHO confirms 15th case of deadly new virus in Saudi Arabia

A electron microscope image of a coronavirus is seen in this undated picture provided by the Health Protection Agency in London February 19, 2013. REUTERS/Health Protection Agency/Handout

 

By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:51pm EDT

(Reuters) – A Saudi man infected with a deadly new virus from the same family as SARS has died, becoming the ninth patient in the world to be killed the disease which has so far infected 15, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

The 39-year-old developed symptoms of the novel coronavirus (NCoV) on February 24 and died on March 2, several days after being hospitalized, the WHO said in a disease outbreak update.

NCoV is from the same family of viruses as those that cause common colds and the one that caused the deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that first emerged in Asia in 2003. The new virus is not the same as SARS, but similar to it and also to other coronaviruses found in bats.

The WHO first issued an international alert in September after the virus infected a Qatari man in Britain who had recently been in Saudi Arabia.

Symptoms of NCoV include severe respiratory illness, fever, coughing and breathing difficulties.

“Preliminary investigation indicated that the (latest Saudi)patient had no contact with previously reported cases of NCoV infection,” the WHO said. “Other potential exposures are under investigation.”

Nine of the 15 people confirmed to have been infected with NCoV have died. Most cases have been in the Middle East or in patients who had recently traveled there.

Research by scientists in Europe has found that NCoV is well adapted to infecting humans and may be treatable with medicines similar to the ones used for SARS, which killed a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected.

The Geneva-based WHO said it was monitoring the situation closely and urged its member states to continue surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections and to carefully review any unusual patterns.

“WHO is currently working with international experts and countries where cases have been reported to assess the situation and review recommendations for surveillance and monitoring,” it said, adding that national authorities should “promptly assess and notify” it of any new NCoV cases.

 


Three new cases of SARS-like virus in Saudi Arabia : novel coronavirus or hCoV-EMC

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By Agence France-Presse
Friday, May 3, 2013 18:15 EDT
Woman in SARS mask via Shutterstock

Three new cases of a new SARS-like virus have been detected in Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organisation reported Friday.

“The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia has informed WHO of an additional three laboratory confirmed cases of infection with the novel coronavirus (nCoV),” the UN body said in a statement.

“They are currently in critical condition,” it added.

The organisation said the latest report brought to 27 the global total of laboratory confirmed cases, including 16 deaths.

The virus was first detected in mid-2012 and is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, leaping to humans from animal hosts.

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SARS-like virus kills 5 Saudis

02 May 2013 – 08H31

 

File picture shows a lab technician testing blood samples. Five Saudis have died of a new SARS-like virus during the past few days and two more are being treated in an intensive care unit, the health ministry said.
File picture shows a lab technician testing blood samples. Five Saudis have died of a new SARS-like virus during the past few days and two more are being treated in an intensive care unit, the health ministry said.

AFP – Five Saudis have died of a new SARS-like virus during the past few days and two more are being treated in an intensive care unit, the health ministry said.

In a statement cited by the Saudi SPA agency late on Wednesday, the ministry said that all the deaths occurred in the Ahsaa province in the oil-rich eastern region of the kingdom.

Known as novel coronavirus or hCoV-EMC, the virus was first detected in mid-2012 and is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, leaping to humans from animal hosts.

The health ministry said it is taking “all precautionary measures for persons who have been in contact with the infected people… and has taken samples from them to examine if they are infected.”

However, the ministry gave no figures for how many people have been examined to see if they have the lethal disease.

Sixteen people have now died from 23 cases detected in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Britain. Riyadh has accounted for most of the deaths, with 11 people including the five new fatalities.

 

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Epidemic Hazard – Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, Al-hasa : UPDATE

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10 10.05.2013 Epidemic Hazard Saudi Arabia Eastern Province, Al-hasa Damage level Details

Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Monday, 06 May, 2013 at 02:42 UTC
Description
As a follow up to the most recently reported 10 case cluster of nCOV in Alhasa in the Eastern Province of KSA. Our investigation is still ongoing and we picked up 3 more cases:

Case 11: 62 year old female with multiple comorbidities. Start of symptoms [19 Apr 2013] and deceased [3 May 2013]
Case 12: 71 year old male with multiple comorbidities. Start of symptoms [15 Apr 2013], deceased [3 May 2013]
Case 13: 58 year old female with comorbidities. Start of symptoms [1 May 2013] and currently ventilated in critical but stable condition.

So far there is no apparent community transmission and transmission seem linked to one HCF health care facility.

Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Monday, 06 May, 2013 at 03:04 UTC
Description
Saudi Arabia’s health ministry has reported three novel coronavirus cases, including two fatalities, bringing the total number of infections up to 13 since the outbreak of the virus in the kingdom. Coronavirus infects respiratory system, and makes up 15 percent of viruses that cause human flu, the ministry said in a release. It said this type of viruses is new and that was why there is no reliable information on its transmission or even required vaccination. But, the ministry reassured that the number of coronavirus cases is still very limited compared to other flu outbreaks. It said it is closely monitoring the situation in the kingdom and taking all necessary precautions in handling patients and those having close contacts with them in line with local and world health directives.

Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Monday, 06 May, 2013 at 07:44 UTC
Description
The number of infected due to the new SARS-like novel coronavirus in Saudi Arabia have jumped to 13 cases, of which seven have already died. First reported to the attention of the World Health Organization last Wednesday, health authorities said five of those who had earlier died have not travelled abroad, arousing suspicions and theories the infections could have originated right within the country’s health-care facilities. “After questioning relatives, it turned out that none of these people had been abroad before being infected,” Dr Ziad Mimish, who heads the health ministry’s disease prevention unit. First identified September 2012 in the Middle East, the global count for the new SARS-like novel coronavirus is now 30 cases. Of those, 18 people have died. Its first fatality was a Saudi man who died in June 2012 due to a mysterious and severe pneumonia. However, the first known cases of the new infection occurred as early as April 2012, in a cluster of 11 illnesses in a hospital in Jordan. A member of the same virus family as SARS, the new coronavirus has the ability to spread from person-to-person. This was confirmed when on Friday, Saudi authorities said one of those who got infected was a family member of one of the original seven who had died.

Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Tuesday, 07 May, 2013 at 02:38 UTC
Description
A new SARS-like virus has killed two more people in Saudi Arabia, taking the number of deaths from the coronavirus that the kingdom has announced to seven in one week, the health ministry said. “The health ministry has announced that three infections by the new coronavirus have been registered during the past days in Al-Ahsaa. Two of the victims have died while the third is in a stable condition,” state news agency SPA said late Sunday. The report did not identify the nationality of the latest victims. On Wednesday, the health ministry announced five Saudis recently died of the SARS-like virus and that two more were being treated in an intensive care unit. The World Health Organization said on Friday that three new cases of the virus were detected in Saudi Arabia. The outbreak has occurred in the oil-rich Red Sea region of Al-Ahsaa, which is near Bahrain and Qatar. The ministry says 13 infections have been “recently” registered in the kingdom.

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Thursday, 09 May, 2013 at 14:27 UTC
Description
The investigation of the recent cluster in Alhassa (Al-Hasa or Al-Ahsa), KSA is still ongoing. Actions implemented and fully applied by 1 May 2013 have been effective to date in preventing NEW cases related to this cluster from emerging. But in-depth look back and search among contacts of earlier reported cases and repeat testing of suspected cases revealed 2 new cases yesterday (8 May 2013):

- Case 14: 48-year-old male with multiple comorbidities. Start of symptoms 29 Apr 2013 and confirmed by lab testing. He is in stable condition in hospital.
- Case 15: 58-year-old male with comorbidity. Start of symptoms 6 Apr 2013. His repeat testing was positive and he fully recovered and was discharged on 3 May 2013.

The investigation is ongoing and more details will be released as they arise.

Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Friday, 10 May, 2013 at 03:37 UTC
Description
Authorities in Saudi Arabia have found two more people who were infected with the new coronavirus in a large cluster of cases in the eastern portion of the country. The two new cases, reported Thursday, bring the total to date of that al Hofuf cluster to 15 infections. Seven have been fatal. One of the newly reported cases became ill on April 6, which at this point is the earliest onset date known for any of the infections in this cluster. Though it is still not clear if these cases are all part of a chain of person-to-person spread, it does suggest the new virus has been infecting people in al Hofuf for more than a month. The new cases were reported publicly by the country’s deputy health minister, Dr. Ziad Memish, who posted a short update on the outbreak on the Internet-based disease surveillance system, ProMED.

Memish said the two people were not newly infected but rather cases that were detected by going back through records and tracing people who had been in contact with known cases. But his ProMED report did not say if these people are related to, or had contact with, any of the other cases in the cluster. And while the official Saudi line has been that all the cases have been linked to a dialysis clinic at al-Moosa Hospital, Memish’s post made no mention of these cases having had care at that facility. The new cases are both men and are both alive. Both men were reported to have had pre-existing medical conditions. One, a 48-year old, started to have symptoms on April 29. He is in stable condition in hospital. The other is a 58-year-old man who had symptom onset on April 6. Memish said he has recovered completely and was discharged from hospital on May 3. The al Hofuf cluster is the largest to date with the new coronavirus and it is linked to one or more health-care facilities. That feature of the outbreak raises red flags for infectious disease experts because health-care workers and hospital patients are often the sentinel cases when a new pathogen begins to spread.

Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Saturday, 11 May, 2013 at 04:38 UTC
Description
Saudi health authorizes say two new cases of infection with a deadly new respiratory virus related to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have been found in the country’s eastern region of al-Ahsa. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health announced on Friday that a 58-year-old man confirmed to have contracted the virus. He was treated and discharged from hospital on May 8. The other patient was a 42-year-old man, who is still under careful treatment at hospital with a stable condition. Fifteen people in Saudi Arabia have been infected by the coronavirus virus, with 7 deaths. The novel coronavirus virus, also known as nCoV-EMC, is a cousin of SARS. The virus first emerged in the Middle East, and was discovered on September 2012 in a Qatari man who had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia. Since September 2012, the World Health Organization has been informed of 30 confirmed cases of the virus, and 18 of the patients have died. Cases have been reported in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Britain and Germany, and health officials have said the virus has likely already spread between people in some circumstances. Health authorities are trying to find out how humans are contracting and spreading the virus and what the best remedy to treat it is.



Epidemic Hazard – Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, Al-hasa : Two more people have died from novel coronavirus, a new strain of the virus similar to the one that caused SARS

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New SARS-like virus can probably pass person-to-person

ReutersVideo ReutersVideo

Published on May 13, 2013

May 13 – New SARS-like virus can probably pass person-to-person with Saudi Arabia having the biggest cluster of cases. Marie-Claire Fennessy reports.

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12 12.05.2013 Epidemic Hazard Saudi Arabia Eastern Province, Al-hasa Damage level Details

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Sunday, 12 May, 2013 at 15:47 UTC
Description
Two more people have died from novel coronavirus, a new strain of the virus similar to the one that caused SARS, in an outbreak in al-Ahsa region of Saudi Arabia, the deputy health minister for public health said on Sunday. Ziad Memish said that in the latest cluster of infections, 15 cases had been confirmed, and nine of those patients had died.

Panic grips Saudis amid fears of SARS-like virus

May 13, 2013 05:03 PMAgence France Presse

A Saudi health ministry official visits patients infected with a new SARS-like virus at a hospital in the eastern Saudi province of al-Ahsaa on May 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO/STRA Saudi health ministry official visits patients infected with a new SARS-like virus at a hospital in the eastern Saudi province of al-Ahsaa on May 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO/STRRIYADH: Panic gripped Saudis in the country’s east on Monday, where most cases of the deadly Coronavirus have been detected, witnesses said, as the death toll from the SARS-like virus in the kingdom hit 15.

Scores of people have reported to the emergency services at hospitals in the city of Al-Ahsa in Eastern Province, after showing even the slightest signs of a fever.

“I felt the symptoms of a cold, accompanied by a fever,” a young man told AFP by telephone from one hospital where he was admitted and placed in quarantine.

“I came to hospital. The symptoms disappeared by the end of the day, but I am still kept in a quarantine with other patients, which scares me,” he said, asking to remain anonymous.

All cases admitted to hospitals in Al-Ahsa region have been placed in isolation, Saudi authorities said.

Fifteen of the 24 people who have contracted the Coronavirus in Saudi Arabia Since August have died, the kingdom’s health minister Abdullah al-Rabia said on Sunday.

A total of 13 cases have been detected in the King Fahd hospital, in Al-Ahsa.

The minister said on Sunday that three new suspected cases had been identified.

Virologist: Coronavirus will cause an epidemic but docs are better prepared this time

May 13, 2013 11:21 am by

novel coronavirus (NCoV)

CAIRO (Reuters) – The doctor who discovered a new SARS-like virus says it will probably trigger an epidemic at some point, but not necessarily in its current virulent form.

The new strain of coronavirus (nCoV) that Ali Mohamed Zaki found last year, related to one that caused the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, has killed at least 18 people in the Middle East and Europe.

On Sunday, the World Health Organization said it seemed likely the new virus, which can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia, could be passed between humans, but only after prolonged, close contact.

Zaki, an Egyptian virologist who identified the new virus last June in a patient at the hospital where he was working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, noted in a telephone interview on Monday that no one else at that hospital had been infected at the time.

More recently, there has been a cluster of cases in a hospital in Hofuf in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province, as well as a case of transmission between two patients sharing a hospital room in France.

Zaki, now working at Ain Shams university in Cairo, said the virus was probably mutating. “From what is going on, it seems it is going step-by-step to become more easily transmitted,” he told Reuters.

But he said doctors and authorities were in a better position to deal with an outbreak than they had been with SARS because the new virus had been identified relatively early:

“Now we have the virus before the epidemic happened – and I think it will happen – and we have tools to diagnose it.”

LESSONS OF SARS

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Two Saudi health-care workers now infected by SARS-linked virus

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Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press
Published Thursday, May 16, 2013 8:18AM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, May 16, 2013 7:52PM EDT

NEW YORK — A deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS has apparently spread from patients to health care workers in eastern Saudi Arabia, health officials said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia told world health officials that two health care workers became ill this month after being exposed to patients with the virus. One is critically ill.

Since September 2012, the World Health Organization has been informed of 40 confirmed cases of the virus, and 20 of the patients have died. The deaths occurred in Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Coronavirus, SARS-linked, MERS

A transmission electron micrograph of novel coronavirus particles, colorized in yellow, is shown. (Handout/National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Experts have suggested calling the new virus MERS, for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, but officials have not signed off on that yet.Experts are watching carefully for signs that the deadly virus can spread from person-to-person. Health officials say the virus has likely already spread between people in some circumstances, including hospital patients in France.

The new virus has caused severe respiratory disease in patients, some of them needing mechanical ventilators to help them breathe.

One of the Saudi health care workers is a 45-year-old man who is in critical condition. The other is a 43-year-old woman in stable condition. No other details about their jobs or where they work were released. Health workers were previously infected in a cluster in Jordan, though that was before the new coronavirus had been identified and before any special measures were taken to prevent its spread. That is not the case in Saudi Arabia and officials worry any new spread to health workers could suggest the virus is becoming more transmissible to people.

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WHO Reprimands Saudi Arabia Facility: New Coronavirus Is Spreading Patient-To-Nurse

Two nurses in Saudi Arabia are added to the country’s list of now 30 infected individuals.

By Susan Scutti | May 16, 2013 12:16 PM EDT

Coronavirus, SARS-linked, MERS

(Photo : CDC.gov) Common symptoms of the new coronavirus (nCoV) have been acute, serious respiratory illness with fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties.

Two health care workers, one now in critical condition, caught the new coronavirus (nCoV) from patients in their care at a health care facility in the Eastern part of Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports in an update late on Wednesday. WHO has noted that all of the most recent cases are linked to a particular Saudi Arabian health care facility, which continues to remain unidentified in its updates on the disease.

A total of 21 patients, including nine deaths, have been reported in eastern Saudi Arabia from the outbreak since the beginning of May 2013 to date. The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia is conducting ongoing investigation of the outbreak, while WHO monitors the situation. Experts have suggested calling the new virus MERS, for Middle East respiratory syndrome, but officials have not yet signed off on it, Arab News reports.

“This is the first time health care workers have been diagnosed with (novel coronavirus) infection after exposure to patients,” WHO states of the two new laboratory-confirmed cases. Health care-associated transmission has been observed before with nCoV in Jordan last April, but this is a first for Saudi Arabia.

One of the two new patients is a 45-year-old man who became ill on May 2 and is currently in critical condition. The second patient is a 43-year-old woman with a coexisting health condition, who became ill on May 8 and is in stable condition.

In its update, WHO advises health care facilities providing care for patients with suspected nCoV infection to take appropriate measures to decrease the risk of transmission of the virus to other patients and health care workers. “Health care facilities are reminded of the importance of systematic implementation of infection prevention and control,” notes the United Nations Health Agency.

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Correction: New Virus story

Thursday, May 16, 2013

NEW YORK — In a story May 15 about a new SARS-like virus spreading from patients to health care workers in Saudi Arabia, The Associated Press reported erroneously the location of the 20 deaths attributed to the virus. There have been no deaths reported in France and Qatar, only in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Britain.

The story also said that the spread to health care workers was new. Health workers were previously infected in a cluster in Jordan before the new coronavirus had been identified.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Saudi health workers sickened by SARS-like virus

2 Saudi Arabia health care workers get SARS-like virus; officials consider naming it MERS

By MIKE STOBBE

AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS has apparently spread from patients to health care workers in eastern Saudi Arabia, health officials said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia told world health officials that two health care workers became ill this month after being exposed to patients with the virus. One is critically ill.

Since September 2012, the World Health Organization has been informed of 40 confirmed cases of the virus, and 20 of the patients have died. The deaths occurred in Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Experts have suggested calling the new virus MERS, for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, but officials have not signed off on that yet.

Experts are watching carefully for signs that the deadly virus can spread from person-to-person. Health officials say the virus has likely already spread between people in some circumstances, including hospital patients in France.

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Epidemic Hazard – Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, Al-hasa : A new case of the deadly coronavirus has been detected in the Kingdom, where 15 people have already died after contracting it

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New case of SARS-like virus detected in Saudi Arabia (© Reuters)

Riyadh: A new case of deadly coronavirus has been detected in Saudi Arabia where 15 people have already died after contracting it, the Health Ministry announced today on its Internet Web site. “One new case of novel coronavirus was recorded in the eastern region” where most of the kingdom’s cases have been registered, the Ministry said, which had this week created a special web page dedicated to the outbreak.

MSN News

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19 19.05.2013 Epidemic Hazard Saudi Arabia Eastern Province, Al-hasa Damage level
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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Sunday, 19 May, 2013 at 04:49 UTC
Description
A new case of the deadly coronavirus has been detected in the Kingdom, where 15 people have already died after contracting it, the Health Ministry announced on Saturday on its website. One new case of the novel coronavirus has been recorded in the Eastern Province, where most of the Kingdom’s cases have been registered, said the Ministry, which this week created a special web page dedicated to the outbreak. “One case of coronavirus has been recorded in the Eastern Region, and he is now under the medical healthcare receiving the proper treatment,” the web page in English reported. The latest case takes to 31 the number of officially recorded cases of the virus in Saudi Arabia since September. Fifteen of those have died.

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New case of coronavirus in EP: Health Ministry

Last updated: Saturday, May 18, 2013 8:10 PM

 


RIYADH — A new case of the deadly coronavirus has been detected in the Kingdom, where 15 people have already died after contracting it, the Health Ministry announced on Saturday on its website.

 

One new case of the novel coronavirus has been recorded in the Eastern Province, where most of the Kingdom’s cases have been registered, said the Ministry, which this week created a special web page dedicated to the outbreak.
“One case of coronavirus has been recorded in the Eastern Region, and he is now under the medical healthcare receiving the proper treatment,” the web page in English reported.
The latest case takes to 31 the number of officially recorded cases of the virus in Saudi Arabia since September. Fifteen of those have died.
On Wednesday, the Geneva-based World Health Organization reported that two Saudi health workers have contracted the deadly coronavirus from patients — the first evidence of transmission in a hospital setting.
“This is the first time health care workers have been diagnosed with nCoV (novel coronavirus) infection after exposure to patients,” the WHO said in a statement.
Since last September, the WHO says it has been informed of a global total of 40 laboratory confirmed cases of the virus, including 20 deaths.
While the virus has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, Germany, Britain and France, where two patients are now in hospital in the northern city of Lille.
The virus is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, leaping to humans from animal hosts and eventually killing some 800 people. — AFP

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Epidemic Hazard – Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, Al-hasa : The death toll in Saudi Arabia from the SARS-like virus is now 17 UPDATE

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Novel Coronavirus -  NCoV

 

 

A Saudi family arrives at a hospital in the center of the capital Riyadh, on May 14, 2013. A man who had contracted the coronavirus has died in Saudi Arabia, raising the death toll in the kingdom from the SARS-like virus to 17, the health ministry announced on its website on Wednesday

 

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Thursday, 23 May, 2013 at 03:27 UTC
Description
A man who had contracted the coronavirus has died in Saudi Arabia, raising the death toll in the kingdom from the SARS-like virus to 17, the health ministry announced on its website on Wednesday. “A male non-Saudi died on Tuesday in a hospital in the Qassim region where he had been admitted several days ago with acute bronchitis,” the ministry said. The ministry announced on Monday that a patient had died of coronavirus in the Eastern Region where most of the kingdom’s cases have been registered. But no new cases have been recorded in that region for five days, the ministry said. The latest death brings to 17 the number recorded in the kingdom. The ministry said most of those who had died were “elderly people with chronic illnesses”. Last week, the Geneva-based World Health Organisation reported that two Saudi health workers had contracted the deadly coronavirus from patients – the first evidence of transmission in a hospital setting. While the virus has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, Germany, Britain and France.

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SARS-like virus claims new life in Saudi

AFP

 

 

 

 

A man who had contracted the coronavirus has died in Saudi Arabia, raising the death toll in the kingdom from the SARS-like virus to 17, the health ministry announced on its website on Wednesday.

 

“A male non-Saudi died on Tuesday in a hospital in the Qassim region where he had been admitted several days ago with acute bronchitis,” the ministry said.

 

The ministry announced on Monday that a patient had died of coronavirus in the Eastern Region where most of the kingdom’s cases have been registered.

 

But no new cases have been recorded in that region for five days, the ministry said.

 

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Five new cases of a deadly SARS-like virus in the east of the kingdom : The Saudi Health Ministry

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Last Update: Tuesday, 28 May 2013 KSA 20:18 – GMT 17:18

 

Five new Coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia

 

 

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

 

The Saudi Health Ministry says it has recorded five new cases of a deadly SARS-like virus. (File Photo: Reuters)

 

AFP, Riyadh

 

The Saudi Health Ministry said on Tuesday it has recorded five new cases of a deadly SARS-like virus in the east of the kingdom.

 

It identified those affected as elderly people aged between 73 and 85 who had been grappling with chronic illnesses.

 

The announcement came as France’s first victim of the nCoV-EMC novel coronavirus – a cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that sparked a world health scare in 2003 – died on Tuesday.

 

The 65-year-old man is thought to have contracted the virus in Dubai, and a man who shared a hospital room with him in France is also affected.

 

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Epidemic Hazard – Saudi Arabia, MultiProvinces, [Provinces of Eastern and Al-Qassim]

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Wednesday, 29 May, 2013 at 02:51 UTC
Description
The Saudi health ministry said on Tuesday it has recorded five new cases of a deadly SARS-like virus in the east of the oil-rich kingdom. It identified those affected as elderly people aged between 73 and 85 who had been grappling with chronic illnesses. The announcement came as France’s first victim of the nCoV-EMC novel coronavirus – a cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that sparked a world health scare in 2003 – died on Tuesday. The 65-year-old man is thought to have contracted the virus in Dubai, and a man who shared a hospital room with him in France is also affected. Saudi Arabia counts by far the most cases of the new virus, with more than 30 confirmed infections and 18 fatalities. Cases have also been detected in Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, and Britain. The virus, which has killed 24 people so far, was last week redubbed the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS. SARS erupted in east Asia 10 years ago, leaping to humans from animal hosts and eventually killing some 800 people. Like SARS, the new virus appears to cause an infection deep in the lungs, with patients suffering from a temperature, cough and breathing difficulty, but it differs from SARS in that it also causes rapid kidney failure.

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Thursday, 30 May, 2013 at 03:41 UTC
Description
Two healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia became ill from patients who have the SARS-like virus – newly named the MERS-CoV virus, experts say. The SARS-like virus, identified as the novel coronavirus, was first detected in March 2012. It has caused 49 confirmed cases of infection and 27 deaths, officials at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, said. Coronaviruses cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, as well as a variety of animal diseases. However, the new virus is not SARS. The disease is a significant public health risk under the International Health Regulations and WHO issued recommendations for enhanced surveillance and precautions for the testing and management of suspected cases. WHO is working closely with countries and international partners, CNN reported. The Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses has published a proposed new name for the novel coronavirus, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS-CoV, WHO officials said. “The proposed name MERS-CoV represents a consensus acceptable to WHO, built on consultations with a large group of scientists,” WHO said in a statement.

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Thursday, 30 May, 2013 at 12:37 UTC
Description
Saudi Arabia has reported that three more people have died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing the total number of deaths globally to 30. The Ministry of Health said Thursday the three deceased, ranging in age from 24 to 60, had chronic diseases, including kidney failure. It says they were hospitalized a month ago. The Ministry also announced a new case of the respiratory virus called MERS, bringing to 38 the number of those infected in the kingdom. It identified the afflicted person only as a 61-year-old from the Al-Ahsa region where the outbreak in a health care facility started in April. The World Health Organization said the new germ, a respiratory infection, was first seen in the Middle East and sickened more than 49 people worldwide.

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Man with coronavirus dies in France, second man critically ill

May 28, 2013 9:15 am by

LILLE, France (Reuters) – The first person to fall ill in France with the new SARS-like coronavirus, a 65-year-old man who had been travelling in Dubai, has died in hospital from the illness, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Health Minister Marisol Touraine sent her condolences to the family of the man, whose death in the northern French city of Lille brings to 23 the number of people killed worldwide by the new virus.

The man was diagnosed with the new virus strain, known as nCoV, on May 8, after being admitted to hospital on April 23, shortly after his return from Dubai, with what seemed at first to be a severe stomach bug and breathing problems.

A second man, aged 50, is critically ill with the virus in the same hospital. The two men had shared a ward in April at a different hospital.

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Epidemic Hazard – Italy, Tuscany , [The area was not defined.] : Italy reported its first case of the SARS-like coronavirus

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Epidemic Hazard in Italy on Saturday, 01 June, 2013 at 02:56 (02:56 AM) UTC.

 

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Italy reported its first case of the SARS-like coronavirus on Friday, a 45-year-old man who had been travelling in Jordan, the health ministry said. The patient was in good condition and was being monitored in isolation, the ministry said in a statement. He was admitted to a hospital in Tuscany with a high fever, a cough and breathing difficulties. A resident of Italy with foreign nationality, the man recently spent 40 days in Jordan where one of his sons was suffering from an unspecified flu.
Biohazard name: MERS-CoV (novel coronavirus)
Biohazard level: 4/4 Hazardous
Biohazard desc.: Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in humans, and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, hantaviruses, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other hemorrhagic or unidentified diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, autonomous detection system, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. All air and water service going to and coming from a Biosafety Level 4 (P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release.
Symptoms:
Status: confirmed

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Italy announces first case of SARS-like coronavirus

Reuters

 

ROME (Reuters) – Italy reported its first case of the SARS-like coronavirus on Friday, a 45-year-old man who had been travelling in Jordan, the health ministry said.

 

The patient was in good condition and was being monitored in isolation, the ministry said in a statement. He was admitted to a hospital in Tuscany with a high fever, a cough and breathing difficulties.

 

A resident of Italy with foreign nationality, the man recently spent 40 days in Jordan where one of his sons was suffering from an unspecified flu.

 

Saudi Arabia has been the most affected by the virus, with 39 cases and 25 deaths so far, according to data from the World Health Organization.

The virus, which can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia, has spread from the Gulf to France, Britain and Germany. The WHO has called it the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

It is from the same viral family that triggered the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that swept the world in late 2003 and killed 775 people.

(Reporting by Naomi O’Leary; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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Epidemic Hazard – Saudi Arabia, MultiProvinces, [Provinces of Eastern and Al-Qassim] : Saudi Health Ministry reported five new incidents in the east of the oil-rich kingdom

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Microscopic images of the novel coronavirus

 

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Sunday, 02 June, 2013 at 04:00 UTC
Description
Amid rising cases of deadly SARS-like virus, Saudi Health Ministry on Tuesday reported five new incidents in the east of the oil-rich kingdom, claiming that all affected are elderly people aged between 73 and 85. The latest cases appeared just hours after a 65-year-old Frenchman died of the virus, becoming the first victim in his country to get infected and died of the deadly nCoV-EMC novel coronavirus. The virus is believed to have links with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which had sparked global health crisis nearly a decade ago. It is believed that the Frenchman got the infection from a man in Dubai with whom he shared a hospital room.

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Epidemic Hazard – Saudi Arabia, MultiProvinces, [Provinces of Eastern and Al-Qassim] UPDATE : victims from the new SARS virus have reached 25. Another 39 cases confirmed and 1300 suspected cases reported

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Thursday, 06 June, 2013 at 02:08 UTC
Description
Medical authorities across the Arab world are on alert particularly in Saudi Arabia, where the victims from the new SARS virus have reached 25. Another 39 cases have been confirmed and another 1300 suspected cases have been reported. Foad Aodi, president of the association of foreign doctors in Italy ( AMSI) and Comai, which represents the Arab world in Italy, are both concerned. Two deaths have been reported in Jordan, another in the United Arab Emirates, one in Tunisia and one in London. Now there are concerns about the threat to the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca and fears that further contagion could become an epidemic. “The most worrying aspect is that we still haven’t identified the means of contagion of the virus and we have serious fears about the next haj that will bring millions of Muslims from around the world to Mecca the most holy place in Islam in October,” said Aodi. Around 2,000 Muslim pilgrims are expected to go to Mecca from Italy. The greatest risk will be at the Eid festival which marks the end of Ramadan with a feast including the killing of an animal that is shared among the poorest families in the Arab world. Even though there is still a great deal of uncertainty, Aodi says like the Chinese version of SARS it is widely believed that the origin of the virus is linked to contact with animals. Unlike the Chinese strain, the new SARS particularly strikes the kidneys, even though it moves through the respiratory system and particularly strikes people who are already weak.

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Thursday, 06 June, 2013 at 19:27 UTC
Description
The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia notified the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 5 of a newly diagnosed case of illness due to the MERS-CoV novel coronavirus. The 14 year old female patient became ill on May 29. The WHO has received reports of 54 cases of illness due to this new virus since Sept., 2012. The official designation for the virus is MERS-CoV, “Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus”. The novel coronavirus is from the same group of viruses that produced the SARS outbreak in 2003, though it is not presently spreading as rapidly. The WHO believes that it can be transmitted from person to person in a limited manner. At this time it is not as easily spread as the SARS virus was. As the official name states, most of the patients have been diagnosed in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, according to the CDC, has seen 40 cases of MERS-CoV and 24 deaths. WHO notes that France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia and the United Kingdom have reported cases. Those cases were transferred from the Middle East for care or had traveled in the region before becoming ill. There has also been limited local transmission among patients who had close contact with patients diagnosed with the illness. The respiratory infection caused by MERS-CoV resembles influenza. The illness can severely impair respiration and be fatal. Hospitalized patients often require respirators and intubation. Health care workers have become ill and correct use of universal precautions and SARS protocols are urged by the CDC.

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Channel News Asia

New death from MERS virus in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi health ministry on Thursday announced the death of one of its citizens in the eastern region of Al-Ahsaa after he contracted MERS, a SARS-like virus.

File photo: A view of Al-Mamlaka hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh. (AFP/Fayez Nureldine)

RIYADH: The Saudi health ministry on Thursday announced the death of one of its citizens in the eastern region of Al-Ahsaa after he contracted MERS, a SARS-like virus.

The ministry website said the latest death, announced on Wednesday, brings to 25 the number of people who have died from the virus since September, adding that 40 people are suffering from the disease in the kingdom.

The strain was renamed the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS, reflecting the fact that the bulk of the cases are in that region, mainly in Saudi Arabia.

On May 31, the World Health Organisation said that the global death toll from the virus has risen to 30.

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Epidemic Hazard – Italy, Tuscany , [The area was not defined.] UPDATE : the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) found in patients in Italy was “under control,”

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Epidemic Hazard in Italy on Saturday, 01 June, 2013 at 02:56 (02:56 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Thursday, 06 June, 2013 at 02:06 UTC
Description
A new respiratory virus related to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) found in patients in Italy was “under control,” Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said on Wednesday. Lorenzin said 60 people who had been in contact with patients whose infection has been confirmed were being observed. “All reported negative tests and enjoy good health,” she said. “For this reason, I feel like assuring parliament and citizens that the situation is under control,” the health minister added. Three people were being treated in Tuscany region, in central Italy, for the SARS-related virus, including a middle-aged man who recently returned from Jordan, his little niece and a colleague, according to local media. The three cases were reportedly mild. Some 51 new cases of the flu-like disease have been confirmed since September last year, several across Europe, according to the U.N. health agency.

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Epidemic Hazard Saudi Arabia MultiProvinces, [Provinces of Eastern and Al-Qassim] UPDATE

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Monday, 17 June, 2013 at 10:17 UTC
Description
Saudi Arabia says four more people have died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing the total number of deaths to 32 in the kingdom at the center of the growing crisis. Overall, nearly 40 people have died from the virus since September, mostly in Europe and the Middle East. That’s according to local officials and the World Health Organization. The Saudi Health Ministry also said on Monday that it confirmed three more cases of the virus, including in a 2-year-old child. Officials are still seeking clues on how easily it is spread between humans. The new virus is related to SARS, which killed some 800 people in a global epidemic in 2003, and belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.

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CIDRAP

Report: Saudi MERS hospital outbreak had some SARS-like traits

Jun 19, 2013 (CIDRAP News) – A study of the recent hospital outbreak of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) in Saudi Arabia reveals, among other things, that the virus spread in three hospitals and that some patients transmit it much more than others do.

The report, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that 21 of 23 cases involved person-to-person transmission in healthcare facilities, and that 9 cases were in hemodialysis patients.

Testing of more than 400 healthcare workers and household contacts of MERS patients turned up only 7 additional cases, the report says, which supports previous findings that the virus doesn’t spread very readily. Investigators found that some patients didn’t spread the virus to anyone else, but one of them infected seven others.

The report was prepared by a large international team with members from Saudi Arabia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

All the hospitals involved are in Al-Hufuf (also spelled Al-Hofuf) in Al-Ahsa governorate of eastern Saudi Arabia. The report covers 23 confirmed cases that were identified between from Apr 1 to May 23; 11 probable cases also are considered part of the outbreak.

As of Jun 12, 15 of the 23 patients (65%) had died, 6 had recovered, and 2 remained hospitalized, the report says. Most of the patients were men, and the median age was 56. Disease manifestations included fever in 20 patients, cough in 20, shortness of breath in 11, and gastrointestinal symptoms in 8.

Most of the cases occurred at one general hospital, called hospital A, which has 150 beds, plus a dialysis unit. The event began on Apr 5 with admission of a patient with dizziness and sweating, followed by a fever 3 days later. He was not tested for MERS-CoV, but his son later had a confirmed case.

Another patient, who was on dialysis, was admitted Apr 6 and put in a room next to the first patient. By Apr 11 he had a fever, and he underwent dialysis in the hospital on Apr 11 and 13. Between Apr 14 and 30, MERS-Cov was confirmed in nine more patients who were receiving dialysis in hospital A. Eight of these cases developed before or within 1 day after infection control steps were taken in the dialysis unit.

One dialysis patient who had a confirmed MERS-CoV infection was admitted to a medical ward on Apr 21. In the following week, two other patients, located two and three rooms away from the dialysis patient, fell ill with the infection.

The virus spread to “hospital C” when a patient who was infected at hospital A underwent dialysis at hospital C while sick. Two other patients at the latter hospital subsequently were infected.

In addition, eight MERS-CoV patients were transferred to “hospital D,” a regional referral hospital. One of those patients passed the virus to two others at hospital D, and another passed it to a physician there, the authors concluded.

The team monitored 217 household contacts of patients with confirmed cases. They found only five cases—three confirmed and two probable—in adult relatives of three of the patients. One of them was treated at another hospital, “hospital B,” where the report lists no other cases.

Only two confirmed cases were detected among more than 200 healthcare workers who were monitored after exposure, according to the report.

In mapping transmission chains, the team found that one patient passed the infection to seven other people, one passed it to three others, and four transmitted it to two persons each. The authors say this variability in transmission is “reminiscent of SARS” (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which is caused by another coronavirus. Some patients in the SARS epidemic in 2003 were described as “super spreaders.”

The median incubation period in the outbreak was 5.2 days (95% confidence interval, 1.9 to 14.7 days). On the basis of recent MERS cases, the World Health Organization has said the incubation time may run as long as 10 to 14 days.

The investigators obtained full genome sequences from isolates from four patients. From a phylogenetic analysis of these sequences and from other data, they estimated that the date of the most recent common ancestor of MERS-CoV was Aug 18, 2011. This broadly agrees with the conclusion of a German team that, in a Lancet Infectious Diseases report this week, estimated the date of the most recent common ancestor as mid-2011.

The authors were unable to determine if the hospital outbreak involved just one, or more than one, transmission of the virus from the community.

Also, they couldn’t answer another key question about the virus: whether person-to-person transmission occurred through respiratory droplets or direct or indirect contact and whether aerosol transmission occurred over a distance of more than 1 meter.

The report says the pattern of the outbreak is consistent with the assumption that patients were infectious only when they had symptoms, but this doesn’t rule out transmission during the incubation period or during asymptomatic infection.

In other findings, the authors note that the survival rate was higher for patients who were identified through active surveillance than for those who were identified clinically. They say the likely reason was that active surveillance was better at picking up less-severe disease.

Assiri A, McGeer A, Perl RM, et al. Hospital outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. N Engl J Med 2013 (Early online publication). [Abstract]

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CDC expert reports some anomalies in Jordan MERS cases

Jun 19, 2013 (CIDRAP News) – Eight Jordanians who had MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infections in a hospital outbreak more than a year ago, as determined by recent blood tests, didn’t quite match the profile of more recent cases, according to a CDC expert.

Most of the eight people did not have preexisting diseases, and one of them had no symptoms, said Mark Pallansch, PhD, director of the CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases.

The majority of MERS-CoV cases reported in recent months involved patients who had preexisting health problems such as diabetes or heart disease. And the asymptomatic case appears to be the first one reported.

The eight cases were associated with a hospital outbreak in Zarqa, Jordan, in April 2012. The cause of the outbreak was a mystery at the time, because MERS-CoV was not discovered until June of last year, when a Saudi man died of his infection.

The Jordan outbreak involved 11 cases, 2 of them fatal. Samples from the patients were stored, and later analysis led to confirmation of the virus in the two fatal cases. The WHO said the other cases probably were MERS, but that couldn’t be confirmed.

Earlier this week a Canadian Press report revealed that serologic (antibody) tests of 124 people related to the Jordan cluster had turned up 8 more cases, raising the number of confirmed cases in the outbreak to 10. The testing was done by the CDC in collaboration with Jordanian health officials.

Pallansch provided more details on the study in an interview. He cautioned that the findings are preliminary, because the CDC has had few serum samples from MERS-CoV patients with which to validate the two new serologic tests that were used.

“There’s always a caveat that we could have subsequent testing change some of the results,” he said.

Six of the eight cases were in healthcare workers and were part of the hospital illness cluster, Pallansch said.

One of the other two, the asymptomatic case, was in a household contact of one of the confirmed cases, he reported. The other one involved a healthcare worker who worked at the same hospital as the others. That person “by recall did have an illness, but was not considered part of the cluster at the time,” he said.

Among the other six case-patients, “there was a range of illness, but all were hospitalized, so it was reasonably severe,” Pallansch said.

He said he is not aware of any other asymptomatic MERS-CoV cases. Such cases are considered important because they suggest that people who aren’t sick can unknowingly spread the virus. Asymptomatic cases are likely to be discovered only through serologic tests, which for MERS-CoV have become available only recently.

Pallansch said he couldn’t give any information about how the first case-patient in the Jordanian cluster might have caught the virus or about the patients’ possible animal exposures. Officials are still working on their report, he explained.

“This is a report that will go back to the Jordanian Ministry of Health, and they’ll make decisions about how it will be disseminated or published,” he said.

See also:

Related Jun 17 CIDRAP News story

Nov 30, 2012, CIDRAP News story

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Bloomberg Business Week

AP News

New MERS virus spreads easily, deadlier than SARS

By By Maria Cheng
June 19, 2013

LONDON (AP) — A mysterious new respiratory virus that originated in the Middle East spreads easily between people and appears more deadly than SARS, doctors reported Wednesday after investigating the biggest outbreak in Saudi Arabia.

More than 60 cases of what is now called MERS, including 38 deaths, have been recorded by the World Health Organization in the past year, mostly in Saudi Arabia. So far, illnesses haven’t spread as quickly as SARS did in 2003, ultimately triggering a global outbreak that killed about 800 people.

An international team of doctors who investigated nearly two dozen cases in eastern Saudi Arabia found the new coronavirus has some striking similarities to SARS. Unlike SARS, though, scientists remain baffled as to the source of MERS.

In a worrying finding, the team said MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) not only spreads easily between people, but within hospitals. That was also the case with SARS, a distant relative of the new virus.

“To me, this felt a lot like SARS did,” said Dr. Trish Perl, a senior hospital epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, who was part of the team. Their report was published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Perl said they couldn’t nail down how it was spread in every case — through droplets from sneezing or coughing, or a more indirect route. Some of the hospital patients weren’t close to the infected person, but somehow picked up the virus.

“In the right circumstances, the spread could be explosive,” said Perl, while emphasizing that the team only had a snapshot of one MERS cluster in Saudi Arabia.

Cases have continued to trickle in, and there appears to be an ongoing outbreak in Saudi Arabia. MERS cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Tunisia. Most have had a direct connection to the Middle East region.

In the Saudi cluster that was investigated, certain patients infected many more people than would be expected, Perl said. One patient who was receiving dialysis treatment spread MERS to seven others, including fellow dialysis patients at the same hospital. During SARS, such patients were known as “superspreaders” and effectively seeded outbreaks in numerous countries.

Perl and colleagues also concluded that symptoms of both diseases are similar, with an initial fever and cough that may last for a few days before pneumonia develops.

But MERS appears far more lethal. Compared to SARS’ 8 percent death rate, the fatality rate for MERS in the Saudi outbreak was about 65 percent, though the experts could be missing mild cases that might skew the figures.

While SARS was traced to bats before jumping to humans via civet cats, the source of the MERS virus remains a mystery. It is most closely related to a bat virus though some experts suspect people may be getting sick from animals like camels or goats. Another hypothesis is that infected bats may be contaminating foods like dates, commonly harvested and eaten in Saudi Arabia.

 

Read More  Here

 

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Epidemic Hazard Saudi Arabia MultiProvinces, [Provinces of Eastern and Al-Qassim] : UPDATE

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Earth Watch Report  -  Biological Hazards

MERS virusThis undated electron microscope image made availalbe by the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases – Rocky Mountain Laboratories shows a novel coronavirus particle, also known as the MERS virus, center. (AP / NIAID – RML)

26.08.2013 Epidemic Hazard Saudi Arabia MultiProvinces, [Provinces of Eastern and Al-Qassim] Damage level
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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Monday, 26 August, 2013 at 03:26 UTC
Description
Saudi Arabia says one more man has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 40 the number of deadly cases in the kingdom at the center of the growing outbreak. The Saudi Health Ministry said Sunday the 51-year-old man who died in Riyadh was also suffering from cancer and other chronic diseases, while tests of two new suspected cases involving two Saudi men in the southwestern province of Asir proved positive. The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.

CTV.ca NEWS

Saudi Arabia reports another death from new SARS-like virus

 

 

 

The Associated Press
Published Sunday, August 25, 2013 1:14PM EDT

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia says one more man has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 40 the number of deadly cases in the kingdom at the centre of the growing outbreak.

The Saudi Health Ministry said Sunday the 51-year-old man who died in Riyadh was also suffering from cancer and other chronic diseases, while tests of two new suspected cases involving two Saudi men in the southwestern province of Asir proved positive.

The new virus is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.

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