Via CIDRAP, Robert Roos summarizes what we know so far: Italy resident has MERS after trip to Jordan. The report also deals with the latest Saudi cases. Excerpt:
Italy announced its first Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) case today, in a man who recently spent time in Jordan, site of the first known MERS illnesses, according to media reports.
Also today, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed earlier reports of another apparent hospital cluster of MERS-CoV cases in Saudi Arabia, involving five patients whose cases were reported 3 days ago.
In Italy, the health ministry said MERS was diagnosed in a 45-year-old man who is a foreigner living in Italy, according to a Reuters report today. He recently spent 40 days in Jordan, where one of his sons was suffering from "an unspecified flu," the story said.
The man was hospitalized in Tuscany with a high fever, a cough, and difficult breathing, but he is now in good condition and being monitored in isolation, Reuters reported.
Unofficially, the new case raises the global MERS-CoV count to 51 cases with 30 deaths. The WHO, which has not yet noted the Italian case, listed its count today at 50 cases, including 30 deaths.
