WHO has published Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update. Excerpt:
On 20 February 2014, the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia announced two additional laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection.
Details of the cases provided to WHO are as follows:
The first case is a 58 year-old man from Al-Ahsa province. He became ill on 2 February and was hospitalised on 4 February. He recovered from the infection and was discharged from hospital on 24 February. The patient suffered from multiple chronic diseases, and was reported to have had contact with animals.
The second case is an 81 year-old woman from the Riyadh region. She had multiple underlying medical conditions, and was hospitalised on 2 February, where she developed symptoms of MERS on 5 February. The patient died on 8 February. She had no reported contact with animals prior to falling ill.
Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 186 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 81 deaths.
I don't understand why WHO has taken so long to report these cases. And I certainly hope that "details of the cases provided to WHO" are far more extensive than what's given above.
