Jordan did not score any new cases of HIV Coruna

: Health Minister Jordanian Abdul Latif Wreikat Sunday that his country had not recorded any new cases of coronary virus (Corona) after testing two deaths in Jordan as a result of the virus in April / April.

Said Wreikat "The ministry has not recorded since the month of April last until today any case corona virus in the Kingdom."

And he said in remarks reported by the Jordanian news agency that "the World Health Organization (WHO) announced yesterday (Saturday) proved injury cases (in Jordan) died in the month of April past Pkorona".

"The care Algesithih in hospital blue state (23 km north-east of Amman) had recorded 11 cases of pneumonia severe during the period from 7 to April 21, including two cases of doctors and 9 cases among cadres nursing underwent all the treatment and turned cases of highly pathogenic to a private hospital. "

He noted that "on April 19 died nurse Arbainet with severe pneumonia in a blue hospital under treatment."

He added, "and later on April 26 also died a college student at the age of 25 years, a resident of the blue."

He added that "laboratory results at the time did not prove any positive result for intractable disease and the results were negative for any type of flu viruses such as bird flu and SARS and swine even Koruna except some positive results for bacteria."

The minister said that "Today's announcement gives the opportunity to the World Health Organization (WHO) team is currently in Jordan to investigate and investigate the epidemiological situation," adding that "action taken by Saudi Arabia and Qatar after new bird flu disease."

For his part, said the WHO representative in Oman Akram Toum that "the number of cases the new Corona disease discovered nine cases recorded in the eastern Mediterranean, five cases in Saudi Arabia and two in Qatar and two in Jordan."http://www.elaph.com/Web/news/2012/1...tml?entry=arab

Jordan corona follow up-No new cases

Sunday, December 2, 2012
Health: proven and فاتين بالكورونا and failure to monitor new cases

Amman - Petra - Health Minister Dr. Abdul Latif Wreikat officially on Sunday proved wounding two died in April last illness Coruna new time in which the failure to monitor any case the disease in the Kingdom. 

said Wreikat at a press conference on Sunday in the ministry building following the announcement of the World Health Organization yesterday, for the registration of cases of disease Koruna new "today after been definitely confirmed that two deaths in Jordan Natjtin disease Coruna new that were not until recently known internationally is not available with reagents was announced to remove ambiguity imposed nature new disease The knowledge derived for the world around him and the availability of reagents for him. " 

and added that the announcement today gives the opportunity for the WHO team is currently in Jordan to investigate and investigate the epidemiological situation, a measure taken by Saudi Arabia and Qatar after recording injuries sick new as well as allow scope for raising the capacity of the epidemiological monitoring laboratory for diseases flu kinds of laboratory Jordanian all. 

stressed Wreikat that the ministry did not register from last April until today any case virus Koruna new characterized deploy limited. 

and chronology to record injuries explained that cases fired on them and the media in the month of April, the mysterious disease "as that at the time recorded in the care Algesithih in hospital blue state 11 cases of pneumonia severe during the period from 7 to April 21, including two cases of doctors and 9 cases among cadres nursing, and underwent all the treatment and turned cases of highly pathogenic to a private hospital., adding that the ministry has taken preventive measures and treatment by protocols health tired globally in such cases were withdrawn samples Laboratory for examination in laboratories Ministry and King Hussein Cancer Center and the University of Science and Technology did not show laboratory results then any positive result for the disease intractable and the results were negative for any type of flu viruses such as bird flu and swine and SARS and even kronaexcept some positive results for the bacteria pseudomonas aeroginosa. said"Meanwhile and on April 19 died nurse Arbainet of who develop pulmonary severe Hospital blue is under treatment at the private hospital, and died later on April 26 also a college student at the age of 25 years, a resident of the blue and said the ministry in time for these deaths. " 

He said he instructed then in April to transfer university student from hospital blue government to Prince Hamzah Hospital as he was complaining of a sore membranes heart and suspicion disease tuberculosis and encountered his hospitalization in conjunction with the pandemic in it. "It did not stop the ministry for further monitoring and survey epidemiological laboratory for cases with symptoms similar in blue did not report any injury outside the hospital and close the file at the time for lack of evidence of any cases of disease flu kinds laboratory either in the laboratory of Jordan or reference to the World Health Organization as well as the lack of injuries similar to the monitoring and survey epidemiological. " 
And that in the evolution of global later announced the World Health Organization abruptly for two deaths resulting from a new disease types of flu called krona new in Saudi Arabia in July of this year and announced it officially in September.
The health minister said that the ministry and in the light of this announcement, intensified procedures preventive, as vaccinated pilgrims Bmtaum flu seasonal before traveling to Saudi Arabia, as well as giving Scion of health personnel in hospitals, and when pilgrims return to Jordan was a process of monitoring them and give them precautionary preventive treatment for flu at border crossings. 

and pay announcement WHO ministry to demand from laboratories Navy SEAL (NAMRU 3) in Cairo, re-examination of samples of the disease called crowns new which was not known previously, that particular lab reagents for the disease became available after the announcement of the deaths in Saudi Arabia Bcesp new disease. 
showed results of laboratory tests to NAMRU 3 in November 14 last, that Arbain deceased (nurse) and the young university was positive for Corona new. 

informed the ministry WHO on Thursday registered cases of injury بالكورونا new after confirming diagnostic laboratory, although not record any injury Similar since April this year so far, according to Dr. Wreikat who said that this confirms that the cases were limited to section intensive care in hospital blue. 
his part, considered representative of the World Health Organization in Amman Dr. Akram Toum, Jordan beacon for technical cooperation in the various fields of health , especially monitoring, they are from developed countries and advanced level region compared with other regions in the world, because the Kingdom has strong health systems. 

explained that the number of cases detected disease Coruna new 9 cases recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, five cases in Saudi Arabia, and two in Qatar , and two in Jordan. He sent the organization a professional team to support the efforts of the Ministry of Health in the survey and surveillance of the disease and respiratory epidemiological situation in general at the level of folders it depends protocols to investigate the disease, especially new viruses Lyman Organization importance of research and survey in the detection of infected cases and provide early treatment and conduct field research and laboratory. 

said Dr. Tom to need to pay attention to strengthening monitoring systems and control of communicable diseases and investigate how HIV infection, location, rates spread in the States, more than the importance of knowledge of the chronology of the injuries, which rely on recorded history laboratory analysis and evidence of injury. 

And the director of Primary Health Care Department, Dr. Bassam Hijjawi that disease Koruna new is a viral disease that affects the respiratory system and is accompanied by a rise in temperature, dry cough and difficulty in breathing which often infects humans and animals and is similar to SARS is not available to him vaccine does not treat the two types. 
said Hijjawi, the ministry adopted since 2008 monitoring system in 3 hospitals in Amman The north and south, to investigate the respiratory disease severe as it has been withdrawn 234 sample from April until the end of last June were sent to laboratories (NAMRU 3) and appeared results negative is, they is infected with coronavirus new. 

pointed out that the Survey teams epidemiological according monitoring systems adopted in the ministry, in cooperation with a technical team from the World Health Organization, headed today to Karak to make sure monitoring systems capabilities there and investigate the epidemiological situation.http://www.alrai.com/article/554543.html

A patient with suspected H5N1

TP - Leaders of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases Ho Chi Minh City yesterday just received confirmation 1-12 Nguyen VS 42-year-old patient living in Binh Duong, hospitalized in a state of continuous high fever, cough, sore throat, chest and shortness of breath with diagnosis of suspected H5N1 infection.
Samples of the patients were sent to the Tropical Disease Hospital Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute tested to determine whether or not the H5N1 flu.
\
http://www.tienphong.vn/Suc-Khoe/602...-H5N1-tpp.html

Eastern Iowa boy sickened by rare influenza strain

An eastern Iowa boy recently came down with a relatively rare strain of flu, drawing the attention of state and federal medical experts.

The unidentified Cedar County child was sickened by a strain of H3N2 influenza. The strain normally is associated with pigs, but investigators said the boy apparently caught it from another person.

“We found he had no exposure to livestock at all,” said Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, medical director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. However, investigators didn’t find anyone else around the boy who had been sickened.

Health officials track such incidents closely because of the possibility that new strains of animal flu could mutate into versions that would be easily transmissible from person to person. If that happened, the new virus could cause a dangerous pandemic.

In this case, Quinlisk said, the child did not become seriously ill.

The Cedar County case was one of 308 H3N2 infections documented nationally this year. More than two-thirds of those cases were reported in Ohio and Indiana, after outbreaks associated with infected pigs that came into contact with people at fairs. Most people have suffered relatively mild illnesses. One death has been reported.

Last year, three children in Webster and Hamilton counties were sickened by the virus. One child apparently gave it to the two others, officials said at the time. No direct exposure to pigs was found.

Quinlisk on Friday asked public health officials to be on the lookout for other possible cases. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121201/NEWS/312010033/Eastern-Iowa-boy-sickened-by-rare-influenza-strain?News&nclick_check=1

Health hold a press conference tomorrow about influenza disease

 first of December (Petra) - The Minister of Health, Dr. Abdul Latif Wreikat on Sunday held a press conference at noon in the ministry building displays the latest developments at the level of respiratory diseases severe including flu of all kinds.

Hong Kong-No alert upgrade despite virus cases

01-12-2012

Health Secretary Ko Wing-man. File photo. The Secretary for Health, Ko Wing-man, says Hong Kong doesn't need to upgrade its response level to the novel coronavirus, even though three more cases have been confirmed in the Middle East.Dr Ko said the Centre for Health Protection is closely monitoring the situation and is liaising with the World Health Organisation. Nonetheless, he urged people to remain on their guard. Two people are now known to have died from the SARS-like virus in Jordan and another infection was found in Saudi Arabia, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to nine.

http://rthk.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20121201/news_20121201_56_886649.htm

EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE - UGANDA (30): (LUWEERO) WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION UPDATE

Date: Fri 30 Nov 2012

Source: World Health Organisation (WHO), CSR, disease Outbreak News [edited]

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_11_30_ebola/en/index.html





Ebola in Uganda - update


------------------------


As of Wed 28 Nov 2012, the Ministry of Health in Uganda reported 7 cases (6 confirmed, 1 probable) with Ebola haemorrhagic fever [Ebola virus disease] in the Luweero and Kampala districts. Of these cases, 4 died. [WHO Note: The total number of cases reported on 23 Nov 2012 was 10 (6 confirmed, 4 probable) Probable cases that tested negative for Ebola have been classified as Non-Cases and excluded from the case counts.]



Field teams continue to investigate cases alerted to them from the communities. The major challenge faced in some communities is the belief that witch-craft and not Ebola [virus] was the cause of deaths, despite ongoing intensive awareness campaigns. Social mobilization teams are working closely with traditional healers and religious leaders to raise awareness on prevention and control of the disease.



The WHO and partners, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Uganda Red Cross (URCS), African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) and Plan Uganda continue to support the national authorities in the response to the outbreak. Through the WHO, an expert on infection prevention and control has been deployed to the field.



With respect to this event, the WHO does not recommend that any travel or trade restriction be applied to Uganda.



--

Communicated by:

ProMED-mail Rapporteur Marianne Hopp

[This update does not report any new confirmed cases in this outbreak since the previous WHO update dated 23 Nov 2012, and reproduced as ProMED-mail post: Ebola virus disease - Uganda (29): (LO) WHO update 20121123.1422071. This new update reports that 3 of the 4 probable cases identified in the previous update have not been confirmed, and the case count returns to 7 (6 confirmed and one probable). It appears that the outbreak in the Luweero and Kampala districts, for the moment, has been contained.

Bird flu kills 4,000 wild ducks in Russia

MOSCOW — Around 4,000 wild ducks have been found dead in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, officials said on Friday, blaming H5 bird flu for the mass deaths.

"This is the H5 virus, the strain is being confirmed," a spokeswoman for the Krasnodar region branch of Russian agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor told AFP.

The birds' remains were now being tested, she added.

The dead birds have been found on lakes near the Black Sea resort town of Anapa.

The region has gone on high alert, with poultry and humans now being vaccinated.

"All of these are protective measures, it's better to be on the safe side," the spokeswoman added.    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hkclP5htvyU9uItLrfoLukWP6KJw?docId=CNG.a7d2f8d949f2ecbfd7611ccf89934f70.21

Monkey fever:Forest watcher hospitalized

Forest watcher hospitalized

TNN | Dec 1, 2012, 06.47 AM IST

MYSORE: Two days after a forest watcher was hospitalized, another watcher fromAlegowdanakattte anti-poaching camp in Maddur forest range of Bandipura tiger Reserve, got admitted to Gundlupet General Hospital on Friday. 

Pradeep Kumar, 46, came to hospital with complaints of body pain, headache and eye burn, said hospital chief medical officer Dr R Srinivas. "We have put him on drips," the officer said. 

Four other watchers, who were working at the anti-poaching camp, are fine. 

On Wednesday, Chikkakariaiah, a 42-year-old watcher, was hospitalized following tiredness. He is recuperating. He, however, continues to be under observation. Chikkakariaiah is likely to be discharged on Saturday. 

Dr Srinivas told TOI that they are awaiting reports from experts working in Kyasanur forest of Shimoga to confirm the disease. Blood samples of six watchers and viscera of primates have been sent to National Institute of Virology (Pune).   http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysore/Forest-watcher-hospitalized/articleshow/17436530.cms

Pacific: A patient with suspected H5N1

A- A A + 

To the Provincial Hospital in a state of continuous high fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath ... the usual treatments for patients who do not yield results, the doctor suspected H5N1-infected patients should be moved Tropical diseases hospital treatment

Nguồn đọc thêm: http://www.xaluan.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=507308#ixzz2DlTn8zQM
http://www.xaluan.com/

Vietnam-A patient with suspected H5N1

Saturday, 01/12/2012 - 06:

(Reuters) - By Provincial Hospital in a state of continuous high fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath ... the usual treatments for patients who do not yield results, the doctor suspected patients H5N1 infection should be referred to hospital for Tropical diseases treatment.

Cases suspected of being infected with the virus aforementioned risk patients Nguyen Van Sang (42 years old, live in Kien Giang). Known, Mr Sang is made in the town of Thuan An, Binh Duong. Before admission, he visited the home in Kien Giang, his family had a flock of ducks, but are dying.Unfortunately, he brought 3 to Binh Duong disease ducks eating meat.

On 26/11, Mr. Sang began to appear symptoms of high fever, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath ... despite taking multiple medications, but the condition is not relieved. On 27/11 a friend took him to a Hospital Binh Duong visit. Here, the X-ray results recognized in patients with large cardiac shadow, pleural effusion associated with clinical symptoms doctors suspected H5N1-infected patients should be transferred to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases to continue treatment .

Immediately after receiving the notification of cases of suspected influenza, preventive medicine center in Binh Duong province has carried out disinfection in patients boarding area and the surrounding area. Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City is conducting the necessary tests to be the most accurate conclusion to this case. 

  http://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/mot-benh-nhan-nghi-nhiem-cum-h5n1-668782.htm

Identical Novel Beta Coronavirus Sequences Signal H2H

Recombinomics Commentary 21:00
November 30, 2012

A paper “Recovery from severe coronavirus infection” published in the Saudi Med J by Dr Ziad Memesh and colleagues describes the third confirmed novel betacornavirus case (45M), which was announced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health on November 4, the date of discharge.
 
The case is a gym-teacher from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia who developed symptoms on October 9. His conditioned worsened and he visited the emergency room on October 10 and 12. His conditioned continued to worsen and was intubated for mechanical ventilation on October 13 and transferred to the ICU. Kidney failure led to hemodialysis between October 15-23.
 
The novel betacornavirus was detected in respiratory samples using PCR tests for the upstream region of the E gene as well as ORF1B and N genes. The paper included two sets of sequences for two regions, a 311 Bp fragment of ORF1B (positions 18105-18414) and a 409 BP fragment of E (positions 27278-27868).  These sequences were from samples collected from case 1 (60M businessman from Bisha, treated in Jeddah, confirmed at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands) and case 3 described above. The two sets of sequences were identical to the updated public sequence for case 1 (JX869059.2) as well as case 2 (49M businessman from Doha, Qatar and treated in London).
 
The identity of the two regions in all three cases once again indicates these cases were not infected by an animal source.  Media reports continue to cite the relatedness to bat coronaviruses, which were identified under an enhanced surveillance program to identify the natural reservoir for SARS CoV.  Bats were found to host a wide variety of coronaviruses including the two members of class 2c found in Guangdong Province, China (HKU4 and HKU5).  These cases were identified using the same pan-coronavirus PCR tested used to identify the first two recent human cases.  However, for the two regions above the three cases from widely separated areas in two countries (Bisha, Doha, Riyadh) were identical, yet had more than 20% mismatches for the most closely related bat class 2c coronaviruses (HKU4 and HKU5).
 
Moreover, WHO has now reported two confirmed cases from an ICU outbreak in Zarka, Jordan in April.  The novel betacornavirus spread throughout the unit and infected at least seven nurses and a doctor as well as the brother of a fatally infected nurse.  The ECDC report cited one fatality, but WHO has already confirmed two fatalities.
 
Release of sequences from the Jordan outbreak would be useful.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11301203/Betacoronavirus_Seq_3.html

SARS-Like Virus Found In Jordan, Hunt Is On For Other Cases

By RICHARD KNOX

The World Health Organization says a new Arabian coronavirus has killed two people in Jordan — the third country where the novel microbe has been traced.

That brings lab-confirmed cases to nine, with five fatalities.

The latest cases are actually the oldest known so far. They push the SARS-like virus's timeline three months back from the first reported case involving a 60-year-old man who died in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, last June.

Jordan's cases were found through new testing of blood and tissues samples from patients in a cluster of pneumonias of unknown origin that occurred last April at a hospital in Zarqa, near Jordan's capital of Amman.

Until now known cases have occurred further south in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The newly identified cases are also significant because they're part of an 11-person pneumonia cluster that involved seven nurses and a doctor.

It's unclear whether either of the two new cases involved health care workers, or whether the new coronavirus has been ruled out yet as the cause of the other pneumonias in that outbreak.

But whenever disease-trackers see clusters of infection involving caregivers, that raises their suspicion that a microbe has spread from person to person — most likely from patient to caregiver.

It doesn't have to mean that. Health care workers and patients could have acquired the infection from a shared environmental source.

But if the new virus is able to spread from person to person, even if inefficiently, that raises the possibility it can become more mobile, moving through human populations.

"Even if the cases in Jordan were human-to-human spread — and we don't know that — it wasn't sustained," WHO spokesman Gregory Haertl told the Canadian Press.

The possibility of person-to-person spread is also suggested by a cluster of coronavirus pneumonias reported on November 23 involving members of the same household in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Four men in that family fell ill with respiratory symptoms and two tested positive for the new coronavirus. The two others, one of whom died, are considered probable cases.

No one thinks that the new coronavirus is as big a threat as its notorious cousin, the one that precipitated the SARS epidemic in 2003 that quickly spread around the world and killed 916 people.

For one thing, health officials haven't found any cases of the new coronavirus among the millions of pilgrims who attended this fall's annual Hajj in Mecca, near the place where the Saudi man died in June.

On the other hand, nobody knows how big a problem the Arabian coronavirus may be — or even whether it is likely to be restricted to Arabia.

The WHO is urging medical and public health workers around the world to investigate clusters of unexplained pneumonia for a possible link to the new virus. It isn't calling for individual cases to be tested.

The agency "is convinced that whatever the source of the virus is, it is probably not unique to those countries," science journalist Helen Branswell writes in Scientific American.

Genetic testing suggests that the new virus is most closely related to one in bats. But that doesn't necessarily mean all human cases had direct contact with bats. There may be an intermediate carrier, and victims might have eaten food contaminated with dust, urine or feces from an infected animal.

At this point, it appears that researchers will find more human cases of the new virus. Each case, or cluster of cases, increases the chance that the source and mode of transmission will be found.

That effort will be accelerated by the development of a blood test for the virus, which Branswell reports may come in the next month or so. Right now diagnosis relies on a gene-amplification test called PCR which is cumbersome and sometimes hard to interpret. And it can't tell if someone had been exposed to the virus in the past but recovered.   http://www.wknofm.org/post/sars-virus-found-jordan-hunt-other-cases

Two people in Jordan died from SARS-like coronavirus: WHO

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - Two people who died in Jordan in April have been found to have been infected with the new virus from the same family as SARS which sparked a global alert in September, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

The coronavirus, previously unknown in humans, has now been confirmed in a total of nine people in three countries in the Middle East region, including a Saudi who had severe acute respiratory illness last month, the United Nations agency said.

But the two fatal cases in Jordan, confirmed in samples just retested by a WHO collaborating laboratory in Egypt, do not change WHO's assessment that the virus does not appear to spread easily between people, if at all, spokesman Gregory Hartl said.

"These Jordan cases don't change our risk assessment at the moment. We haven't seen any new pattern. These are old cases," Hartl told Reuters.

In a statement, the Geneva-based WHO said: "Two fatal cases in Jordan have been reported to WHO today, bringing the total of laboratory-confirmed cases to nine."

Initially, the samples had tested negative for known coronaviruses and other respiratory viruses in April.

"As the novel coronavirus had not yet been discovered, no specific tests for it were available," the agency said.

The new virus shares some of the symptoms of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which emerged in China in 2002, spread easily among people and killed around a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.

"Based on current information, it does not appear to transmit easily between people, unlike theSARS virus," WHO said.

The new virus can appear to be pneumonia and acute kidney failure has occurred in five cases, the WHO said.

In all, five cases of the new virus, including three deaths have been confirmed in Saudi Arabia, including three patients in one family, it said. Two cases have been confirmed in Qatar, and both are recovering, while both cases in Jordan were fatal.

LINK

The Jordan cases were among a total of 12 cases of severe acute respiratory illness that erupted last April linked to a hospital in Zarqa some 40 kilometers (24 miles) outside Amman, Hartl said. Most were health workers, he added.

"The link is the hospital. It could be some environmental thing or human-to-human transmission," he said.

"The main thing is the fact that even if it were human-to-human transmission, which we don't know, it doesn't seem to spread very well or efficiently," Hartl said.

The two so-called "clusters" of cases, in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, raised the possibility of "limited human-to-human transmission", or exposure to a common source, the WHO said.

"Ongoing investigation may or may not be able to distinguish between these possibilities," it said, noting some viruses are transmitted within families but are not transmissible enough to cause large community outbreaks.

The WHO urged health authorities in its 194 member states to continue surveillance for the new virus and investigate any unusual patterns.

"Testing for the new coronavirus of patients with unexplained pneumonias should be considered, especially in persons residing in or returning from the Arabian peninsula and neighboring countries," it said.   http://news.yahoo.com/two-people-jordan-died-sars-coronavirus-195501996.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Coronavirus caused infections as early in April, tests show

Helen Branswell, The Canadian Press 

Published Friday, Nov. 30, 2012 2:39PM EST 

TORONTO -- The World Health Organization has reported two additional cases of infection with the new coronavirus, the earliest on record.

The agency says retrospective testing of stored samples show two people who died in Jordan in April were infected with the virus, which is from the same virus family as SARS.

Prior to this the first known case had been a man from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who fell ill and died in June.

The new report from the WHO brings to nine the number of confirmed infections with the new virus, of which five cases have been fatal.

When it came to light that a new coronavirus was causing severe human illnesses in the Middle East, questions were raised about an outbreak of severe pneumonia cases that had occurred in Jordan in April.

At the time health officials were not able to diagnose what was causing the illnesses, but stored samples from two of the patients tested positive recently for the new coronavirus.

In a statement issued Friday, the WHO says Jordan's ministry of health has asked the global health agency for assistance in investigating the infections.

A team from WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office and from WHO headquarters arrived in the Jordanian capital, Amman on Wednesday to help with studies aimed at trying to trace the source of infection and strengthen capacity to spot new cases.

A potentially worrisome aspect of the Jordanian outbreak is that it involved health-care workers. Health-care workers can be unwitting sentinels in disease outbreaks, picking up infections from patients that they treat. If health-care workers become infected, that can often -- though not always -- be a sign a pathogen can spread from person to person.

To date there has been no sign of sustained person-to-person spread of the virus,??.. though there was a recent cluster of three and possibly four family members who got sick in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Two of them died.

The Jordanian cases may signal spread from patients to health-care workers happened there. But it's too soon to conclude that, said WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl, who noted the health-care workers and the patients could have been infected for a common -- and as yet unidentified -- source.

"Even if the cases in Jordan were human-to-human spread -- and we don't know that -- it wasn't sustained," Hartl said in an interview from Geneva. He noted that there has been no sign of spread to health-care workers in Saudia Arabia or Qatar, the two other countries that have had cases, nor in London or Germany, where two of the cases have been treated.

Hartl said with cases popping up over large distances in three different countries, and over months, much work remains to be done to figure out what is going on. "There are a lot of holes still to be filled in," he said.

The WHO has asked countries to be on the lookout for possible cases in people with unexplained severe infections who have recently returned from or lived in countries in the Arabian Peninsula, or surrounding countries.

To date the case count is as follows: Jordan, two, both fatal; Saudi Arabia, five, three fatal and Qatar, two.

A report on the outbreak -- noted in a weekly disease report from the European Centre for Disease Control in May -- said seven nurses and a doctor were among 11 cases identified in the outbreak at a hospital in Zarqa, Jordan.  http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus-caused-infections-as-early-in-april-tests-show-1.1060942

Jordan Fatal Novel Beta Coronavirus Cluster Confirms H2H

Recombinomics Commentary 19:00
November 30, 2012

In addition to the fatal case of novel coronavirus in Saudi Arabia reported to WHO on 28 November, two fatal cases in Jordan have been reported to WHO today, bringing the total of laboratory-confirmed cases to nine.

The two cases from Jordan occurred in April 2012. At that time, a number of severe pneumonia cases occurred in the country and the Ministry of Health (MOH) Jordan promptly requested a WHO Collaborating Centre for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases (NAMRU – 3) team to immediately assist in the laboratory investigation.

The above comments are from a WHO update confirming two of the pneumonia cases in an ICU ward in Zarqa, Jordan in April, 2012 were due to the novel betacornavirus currently circulating in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.  This outbreak involved at least seven nurses and a doctor among the 11 cases cited.  Media reports indicated the actual number was larger than the numbers cited in an ECDC report, which noted the death of one of the nurses.

The failure of NAMRU-3 to detect this outbreak last spring raises concerns, since the pan-coronavirus PCR test has been known since 1999.

The ICU cluster clearly demonstrates that this novel betacoronavirus transmits human to human (H2H) and has striking similarities to the SARS CoV outbreak in 2003.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11301202/Betacoronavirus_Jordan_H2H.html?

ECDC Epidemiological update: novel coronavirus

30 Nov 2012

ECDC
On 30 November WHO updated the number of confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus which has been temporarily named hCoV-EMC. Between April 2012 and 30 November 2012, nine confirmed cases of infection with the novel coronavirus (of whom five died) have been reported to WHO, according to its case definitions. Severe acute respiratory disease was the common presentation of all cases.

Five of the confirmed cases reside in Saudi Arabia (including three fatalities) two in Qatar and two in Jordan. Three of the confirmed cases from Saudi Arabia are from the same family household and there is also a fourth probable case. The second cluster with two confirmed cases (both fatal) has been retrospectively identified among eleven persons who became ill with acute respiratory disease in Jordan already in April 2012.
Two of the cases were diagnosed after being transferred to Europe for further medical care.

The reservoir and route of transmission of this virus has not been identified but all cases were reported from the Arabian Peninsula. 
The detection of two clusters could indicate limited person-to-person transmission or exposure to a common source. However, only careful investigation can help to distinguish between those two.

On 26 November 2012, ECDC updated the Rapid Risk Assessment on severe respiratory disease associated with the novel coronavirus. The updated information from WHO at present does not change the conclusions of this assessment.
ECDC conducted a survey on the laboratory capacity testing in EU/EEA member states in coordination with WHO Regional Office for Europe and the results are expected to be available next week.

On 28 November, WHO updated the Interim surveillance recommendations for human infection with novel coronavirus.
Healthcare professionals should be aware of the possibility of seeing patients matching the WHO case definition. Any probable or confirmed case being diagnosed in the EU/EEA area should be reported to the national authorities and then through the Early Warning Response System (EWRS) also to the Event Information Site of the WHO International Health Regulations.ECDC will continue to closely follow developments.

Read more on ECDC website:

Rapid Risk Assessment: Severe respiratory disease associated with a novel coronavirus, 26 September 2012
Epidemiological update on third confirmed case of novel coronavirus, 6 November 2012
Rapid Risk Assessment: Severe respiratory disease associated with a novel coronavirus of 24 Sep 2012
External websites:
RKI: Press Release on a case of Novel Coronavirus diagnosed in Germany 
WHO: Novel Coronavirus; Novel coronavirus infection - update
UK: Genetic sequence information for scientists about the novel coronavirus 2012 
Recent Eurosurveillance article:
The United Kingdom public health response to an imported laboratory confirmed case of a novel coronavirus in September 2012

http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/press/news/...ews/Lists/News

Interim Local Health Departments Novel Coronavirus (NCV) Investigation Short Form

. For NCV patients under investigation (PUI), fill out the form below and send to eocreport@cdc.gov (subject line: NCV Patient
Form) or fax to 770-488-7107.  If information is incomplete, please send any information you have as soon as possible then send
an updated form when you obtain more information.
Case Definition: see Interim Guidance for State & Local Health Departments.

http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/ncv/downloads/Interim-NCV-investigation-short-form.pdf