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EVIDENCE OF PERSON-TO-PERSON TRANSMISSION WITHIN A FAMILY CLUSTER OF NOVEL CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS, UNITED KINGDOM, FEBRUARY 2013
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) UK Novel Coronavirus Investigation team (
)1
- The members of the team are listed at the end of the article
Citation style for this article: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) UK Novel Coronavirus Investigation team. Evidence of person-to-person transmission within a family cluster of novel coronavirus infections, United Kingdom, February 2013 . Euro Surveill. 2013;18(11):pii=20427. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20427
Date of submission: 05 March 2013
Date of submission: 05 March 2013
In February 2013, novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection was diagnosed in an adult male in the United Kingdom with severe respiratory illness, who had travelled to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia 10 days before symptom onset. Contact tracing identified two secondary cases among family members without recent travel: one developed severe respiratory illness and died, the other an influenza-like illness. No other severe cases were identified or nCoV detected in respiratory samples among 135 contacts followed for 10 days.
On 8 February 2013, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in London, United Kingdom (UK), confirmed infection with novel coronavirus (nCoV) in a patient in an intensive care unit, who had travelled to both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the 10 days before the onset of symptoms [1]. This patient (hereafter referred to as Case 1) was the 10th confirmed case reported internationally of a severe acute respiratory illness caused by nCoV. Two secondary cases of nCoV were subsequently detected. We describe the public health investigation of this cluster and the clinical and virological follow-up of their close contacts.
On 8 February 2013, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in London, United Kingdom (UK), confirmed infection with novel coronavirus (nCoV) in a patient in an intensive care unit, who had travelled to both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the 10 days before the onset of symptoms [1]. This patient (hereafter referred to as Case 1) was the 10th confirmed case reported internationally of a severe acute respiratory illness caused by nCoV. Two secondary cases of nCoV were subsequently detected. We describe the public health investigation of this cluster and the clinical and virological follow-up of their close contacts.
The nCoV was first described in September 2012 in a Saudi Arabian national who died in June 2012 [2,3]. The UK detected its first case of nCoV infection in a male foreign national transferred from Qatar to London in September 2012 [4]. By February 2013, a total of two clusters had been described globally: one cluster (n=2) among staff in a hospital in Jordan and a family cluster (n=3) in Saudi Arabia [5]. No clear evidence of person-to-person transmission was documented in either cluster [6].
Index case exposure history and laboratory investigations
The index case was a middle-aged UK resident, who had travelled to Pakistan for five weeks. He then travelled directly to Saudi Arabia on 20 January where he remained until his return to the UK on 28 January 2013. During his stay in Saudi Arabia, he spent time in Mecca and Medina on pilgrimage. On 24 January, while in Saudi Arabia, he developed fever and upper respiratory tract symptoms (Figure 1). No direct contact with animals or with persons with severe respiratory illness was reported in the ...
http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20427