2013-05-02 15:29:28
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Novel coronavirus - Eastern Mediterranean (16): Saudi Arabia, RFI
Archive Number: 20130502.1686948
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Novel coronavirus - Eastern Mediterranean (16): Saudi Arabia, RFI
Archive Number: 20130502.1686948
NOVEL CORONAVIRUS - EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (16): SAUDI ARABIA, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Thu 2 May 2013
Source: Al Jazeera [edited]
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/05/201352795849599.html
Saudi Arabia's health ministry has said that 5 Saudis have died from a new SARS-like virus and it is taking "precautionary measures" with 2 more people being treated in an intensive care unit.
In a statement cited by the Saudi Press Agency [SPA] late on Wednesday [1 May 2013], the ministry said that all the deaths occurred in the Ahsaa province in the oil-rich eastern region of the kingdom, according to the AFP [Agence France-Presse] news agency.
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 was 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.
So far 16 people have 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 5 new fatalities.
Coronaviruses cause most common colds and pneumonia, but are also to blame for unusual conditions such as SARS, which killed more than 800 people when it swept out of China in 2003.
The new virus is different from SARS, in that it causes rapid kidney failure. The strain is shrouded in mystery, and the World Health Organization does not yet know how it is transmitted or how widespread it is.
A 73 year old Saudi man died in Germany in March [2013, see prior ProMED-mail posts Novel coronavirus - Eastern Mediterranean (14): Germany ex UAE, WHO, fatal 20130326.1604564 and Novel coronavirus - Eastern Mediterranean (13): Germany ex UAE 20130326.1603038] from the lethal new virus. He had been travelling in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia before falling ill, and was transferred to Munich from Abu Dhabi on [19 Mar 2013].
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communicated by:
ProMED-mail
[In the newswire above there are reports of 7 newly diagnosed cases of severe illness including 5 deaths attributable to infection with the novel coronavirus (nCoV).
In prior reports the total number of reported/confirmed cases had been 17, with 11 deaths. If the accounts in the newswire above are correct, there are now 24 confirmed cases with 16 deaths.
As of today, 2 May 2013, the breakdown of cases (and deaths) by country of report is:
- Saudi Arabia: 16 (11 deaths)
- Jordan: 2 (2 deaths)
- UK: 4 (one patient from Qatar -- under treatment, 3 patients from UK -- one with history of travel to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan prior to illness; one recovered, 2 deaths)
- Germany: 2 (one patient from Qatar -- discharged, one patient from the UAE -- one death).
This nCoV is genetically closely related to a bat coronavirus. The actual route of transmission to humans has not yet been definitively defined. Contact with farm animals has been noted in a number of the cases (see prior ProMED-mail posts).
Information on the dates of onset of illness, age, and gender of cases, possible exposures (animal and human) and other information from epidemiologic investigations would be greatly appreciated.
*************************************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Thu 2 May 2013
Source: Al Jazeera [edited]
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/05/201352795849599.html
Saudi Arabia's health ministry has said that 5 Saudis have died from a new SARS-like virus and it is taking "precautionary measures" with 2 more people being treated in an intensive care unit.
In a statement cited by the Saudi Press Agency [SPA] late on Wednesday [1 May 2013], the ministry said that all the deaths occurred in the Ahsaa province in the oil-rich eastern region of the kingdom, according to the AFP [Agence France-Presse] news agency.
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 was 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.
So far 16 people have 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 5 new fatalities.
Coronaviruses cause most common colds and pneumonia, but are also to blame for unusual conditions such as SARS, which killed more than 800 people when it swept out of China in 2003.
The new virus is different from SARS, in that it causes rapid kidney failure. The strain is shrouded in mystery, and the World Health Organization does not yet know how it is transmitted or how widespread it is.
A 73 year old Saudi man died in Germany in March [2013, see prior ProMED-mail posts Novel coronavirus - Eastern Mediterranean (14): Germany ex UAE, WHO, fatal 20130326.1604564 and Novel coronavirus - Eastern Mediterranean (13): Germany ex UAE 20130326.1603038] from the lethal new virus. He had been travelling in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia before falling ill, and was transferred to Munich from Abu Dhabi on [19 Mar 2013].
--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail
[In the newswire above there are reports of 7 newly diagnosed cases of severe illness including 5 deaths attributable to infection with the novel coronavirus (nCoV).
In prior reports the total number of reported/confirmed cases had been 17, with 11 deaths. If the accounts in the newswire above are correct, there are now 24 confirmed cases with 16 deaths.
As of today, 2 May 2013, the breakdown of cases (and deaths) by country of report is:
- Saudi Arabia: 16 (11 deaths)
- Jordan: 2 (2 deaths)
- UK: 4 (one patient from Qatar -- under treatment, 3 patients from UK -- one with history of travel to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan prior to illness; one recovered, 2 deaths)
- Germany: 2 (one patient from Qatar -- discharged, one patient from the UAE -- one death).
This nCoV is genetically closely related to a bat coronavirus. The actual route of transmission to humans has not yet been definitively defined. Contact with farm animals has been noted in a number of the cases (see prior ProMED-mail posts).
Information on the dates of onset of illness, age, and gender of cases, possible exposures (animal and human) and other information from epidemiologic investigations would be greatly appreciated.
