Via CIDRAP, Robert Roos sums up what we know after an intense few days: Two Jordan cases in April shift novel coronavirus picture. Click through for the full report and links. Excerpt:
Saudi Arabia's deputy minister for public health, Ziad A. Memish, MD, today suggested that the virus in the Saudi Arabian family cluster may be different from the strain in the earlier cases.
"We think the virus in the last family cluster is different as it had significant spread among households while none of the previous cases behaved in a similar way," Memish said in e-mailed comments to CIDRAP News. Memish was among the authors of a description of Saudi Arabia's second novel CoV case, published this week in the Saudi Medical Journal.
The Jordanian cases seem to confirm the need to watch for the novel virus in places beyond just Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as recommended by the WHO lately. Last week the agency called for broader vigilance, and yesterday it offered more detailed surveillance recommendations.
The WHO reiterated those recommendations today. It said authorities should consider testing of patients with unexplained pneumonia, especially if they live in or visited the Arabian peninsula or neighboring countries. Any cluster of severe acute respiratory infections in healthcare workers should be carefully investigated, regardless of the location, the statement said.
Memish agreed on the need for wider surveillance, commenting, "We have been saying all along that cases of novel coronavirus are not limited to KSA [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] and Qatar. And today's announcement from WHO about the two cases from Jordan in early April 2012 is an evidence supportive of our suspicions.
"No country in the world screens all pneumonia patients for novel coronavirus except KSA and Qatar, and as long as this is the case no novel coronavirus cases will be recovered anywhere else," he added.
