Three discharged from Ebola isolation centres in Luweero

Three people admitted to Bombo Military Hospital and Nyimbwa Health Centre IV with symptoms similar to Ebola virus have been discharged from the isolation units after recovering and being counselled by health officials.

Dr Agaba Byamukama, the case management and surveillance coordinator for the Ebola task force in Luweero District, told the Daily Monitor at the weekend that two of the discharged people were from the isolation unit at Bombo Military Hospital and one was from Nyimbwa Health Centre IV.

“We have discharged three people who have been undergoing treatment. They are free to go back to the community because they have been treated and counselled by our staff,” Dr Agaba said.

He said they were also given packages such as a mattress, clothes, some food, shoes, a jerrican, among other essential items, because some of their property was destroyed as a precautionary measure against further spread of the disease.

Meanwhile, the surveillance teams have indicated that a confirmed Ebola case at Bombo Military Hospital is recovering and that no new cases have been admitted at the isolation facilities at Nyimbwa Health Centre and Bombo Military Hospital.

However, the medical teams continue to monitor 77 who came into contact with Ebola patients as a precautionary measure. He said the ministry was concentrating on training health workers, assessing infection prevention and control practices in health facilities and sensitisation of the communities.

Meanwhile, 12 people believed to have come into contact with the first suspected case on November 7 have completed the 21 days of monitoring and have been pronounced to be Ebola free, according to Dr Ester Namukose, an Epideomologist from the Ministry of Health.  http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Three-discharged-from-Ebola-isolation-centres-in-Luweero/-/688334/1628922/-/iyp956/-/index.html?

BC doctors on the lookout for SARS-like virus from the Middle East

11/26/2012 

BC hospitals are on heightened alert after a new SARS-like virus has killed two people in the Middle East.

Dr. Perry Kendall, the province's Chief Medical Health Officer, says doctors received a memo from the world health organization.

"If they have concerns because there may be a linkage to someone who's travelled to Saudi Arabia or Qatar, they're asked to send respiratory secretions to the BCCDC lab so that they can be examined to be quite sure they don't have the corona virus which is linked to SARS."

There have been six confirmed cases of the virus since April.  http://www.cknw.com/news/vancouver/story.aspx/story.aspx?ID=1826364

Tuberculosis vaccine sickens 115 Romanian children; 50 hospitalized

NOVEMBER 25, 2012
Romania - On Friday, the Stockhom-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said that 115 children inRomania have been sickened by a tuberculosis vaccine made in Denmark according to Businessweek.com. The children had symptoms including swollen lymph nodes and abscesses, and 50 have been hospitalized since March. In a televised address on November 22,Romanian Health Minister Raed Arafatsaid that TB vaccinations would stop until the cause of the side effects is determined...  http://www.examiner.com/article/businessweek-com-115-children-ill-from-tuberculosis-vaccine-50-hospitalized

Hong Kong suspends poultry eggs imported from Taiwan, Penghu County and Chiayi County

Time: 2012-11-25 10:36 Source: People's Daily Online - Hong Kong and Macao channels of: According to the Central Evaluation Agency

The People's Daily, November 24, according to the assessment agency reported, the Hong Kong Government Information Services announcement, Penghu County and Chiayi County found that H5N2 avian flu, the Taiwan authorities announced that the Hong Kong SAR Government, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department spokesman for the Centre for Food Safety said, instant suspend imports of poultry and eggs from Penghu County and Chiayi County. 　　The spokesman said no live poultry and poultry meat imports from Taiwan, but there are a small number of eggs imported. For the record, in the first three quarters of this year from Taiwan, Hong Kong imported about 7.7 million eggs. 　　The spokesman said Hong Kong will pay close attention to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) issued on the news of the outbreak of avian flu in Taiwan and local development of the epidemic, and eggs with Hong Kong's main importers, distributors and supermarket retailers to maintain close contact. http://www.hinews.cn/news/system/2012/11/25/015164638.shtml

New SARS poison like H5N1 tour to the Middle East not to eat game

2012-11-26

World's Department of Health Organization announced four additional new coronavirus infections, one people were killed, has accumulated six infections and two deaths, the mortality rate of up to one-third. Hong Kong medical experts have warned the new coronavirus toxicity comparable H5N1 avian influenza, called on Hong Kong people not to eat venison, outbound travelers do not touch the camels and other animals, in order to avoid the poisoned.        

 The World  announced four new coronavirus infections, three from Saudi Arabia, two of which are from the same family, one person was killed, one rehabilitation. HKU Department of Microbiology, Chair Professor Yuen Kwok-yung (inset), two cases from the same family, but was unable to determine whether the virus is human-to-human transmission, there may be two patients at the same time contact with the source of experts will know whether infected after contact with animals, and take care of their health care is not infected, and therefore there is no evidence the virus is contagious.         He was referring, similar to the virus and SARS, but one of the symptoms of SARS belly defecate According display six new coronavirus infection cases, the symptoms of the patients had no belly defecate. In patients with one third of death, showing the the new coronavirus fatal high, comparable to the H5N1 avian influenza.        

 Yuan Yong added that the scientists of Saudi Arabia has done nearly a thousand individual Class A common serum test, the serum can not find all the antibodies, to prove that this is a new virus. He refers to, there is reason to believe that the virus is still concentrated in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, appealed to the public not to panic, but to do the the border medical reporting measures, to strengthen the monitoring of travelers from the Middle East, in addition to eat "game", do not touch camels, as well as in contact with animals After remember to wash your hands.      

   EGL executive director Huen Kwok-chuen, said the company does not have tours to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but still tour group departure to Egypt and Turkey, earlier due to security issues, has been canceled camel ride links.   http://news.hkheadline.com/dailynews/content_hk/2012/11/26/216286.asp

Hong Kong-Testing stepped up as more hit by SARS-like virus

Mary Ann Benitez
Monday, November 26, 2012
Residents and tourists with unexplained pneumonia, not only those from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, will be tested for a new SARS-like virus.
Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man called yesterday for enhanced vigilance after four more cases of "severe acute respiratory infection" in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were confirmed by the World Health Organization.
Patients with no history of travel to the two Middle Eastern countries but who develop symptoms of the novel coronavirus may need to be tested, Ko said.
While there is no cause to raise the alert level for SARI, he said new cases highlight the need to enhance surveillance measures in hospitals and border control points.
The WHO was notified on Friday of four additional SARI cases - three from Saudi Arabia and one in Qatar - bringing total confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus to six, with two deaths, in the past two months.
Two of the latest cases in Saudi Arabia are from the same family living in the same household. One died and the other recovered.
The health agency urged all member states to continue their surveillance for SARI. It is reviewing the case definition and other guidelines.
"Until more information is available, it is prudent to consider that the virus is likely to be more widely distributed than just the two countries that have identified cases," it said.
The WHO expressed concern because a novel coronavirus spawned the global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, with it spreading from Hong Kong.
Of the nearly 900 who died, 299 came from Hong Kong. About 8,500 people worldwide were infected.
Yuen Kwok-yung, University of Hong Kong microbiology professor, said the genetic makeup of SARI is similar to SARS and both come from bats.
Yuen said the chance of person-to- person transmission is not very high for the new infection because none of the health workers who cared for patients has been infected.
The International Society for Infectious Diseases said increased surveillance of patients even without travel history to Saudi Arabia or Qatar is prudent advice.
"The presence of cases in the same family can either be a sign of human-to- human transmission or may be related to exposure of the family members to a common source such as farm animals or bat excreta or other bat bodily fluids," the society said. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=128660&sid=38319665&con_type=1&d_str=20121126&fc=10

UAE well-prepared for Sars-like virus after outbreak in Gulf

The UAE is well prepared to deal with outbreaks of deadly viruses, experts said, after further cases of a new, Sars-like virus were reported in the region and the death toll rose to two.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a warning on Friday over a type of coronavirus that was unknown in humans before two cases were identified in late September.

One was in Saudi Arabia, where the victim died, and the other in Qatar.

The latest outbreak has affected another four people.

One of the new cases was in Qatar and the other three were in Saudi Arabia, where one of the patients died. WHO said two of the latest Saudi cases were in the same family.

The UAE does not need to go beyond the basic precautionary measures already in place, said Dr Mansour Al Zarouni, a consultant medical and molecular microbiologist, and the head of pathology and laboratory medicine for Sharjah Medical District.

“We should be aware of this but, at the same time, be inactive,” Dr Al Zarouni said. “If anything is going to happen it’s going to happen now ... there is nothing to be done except very basic precautions that we take anyway.”

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that range from those that cause the common cold to more severe strains such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars, said Dr Fatma Al Attar, head of preventive services at Dubai Health Authority.

As in September, when the first cases emerged, the authority is working with the Ministry of Health and following instructions from WHO and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Al Mattar said.

While no cases have been reported in the UAE, hospitals have policies in place to deal with outbreaks, said Dr Mohamed Hamad, the infection-control chief at Lifeline Hospital, in Abu Dhabi.

“We have our own plan, which is based on the instruction of the Health Authority Abu Dhabi,” he said.

“They have instructed us to create a policy on this, in general.”

There are several methods by which authorities can determine whether there is an outbreak, and how extensive it is, Dr Hamad said.

“If two or more cases are found, the authorities will begin to investigate whether or not it can be classed as an outbreak,” he said.

“They [the cases] will be isolated and treated accordingly.

“They will then go for further investigation to know what type of influenza has been found and whether it is coronavirus or not.”

Investigations into the source of the Saudi and Qatar cases and how the infections spread are continuing, WHO said.  http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/health/uae-well-prepared-for-sars-like-virus-after-outbreak-in-gulf?

SARS-like virus concerns WHO

The World Health Organization urges special tests for all unexpected pneumonias after another disturbing illness

A patient from Qatar has been confirmed with a new virus related to SARS, while health officials are investigating whether it may have spread between humans after close contact in Saudi Arabia.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute said Friday that the Qatari patient fell ill in October with severe respiratory problems. He was brought to Germany for treatment in a specialty clinic, recovered after a month and was released this week.

As a precaution, the World Health Organization advised medical authorities around the world to test any patients with unexplained pneumonias for the new coronavirus, from a family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as SARS. Previously, WHO had only advised testing patients who had been to either Qatar or Saudi Arabia, the two countries with all six reported cases.

“Until more information is available, it is prudent to consider that the virus is likely more widely distributed than just the two countries which have identified cases,” WHO said.

WHO reported a cluster of four cases in October in a family living in the same household in Saudi Arabia, in which a father and son both fell ill with symptoms including pneumonia, fever and respiratory problems. The father, 70, died after developing renal failure. His son was hospitalized shortly afterwards and died four days later after multi-organ failure. The son was confirmed with the coronavirus while the father’s results are pending.

Two other people in the same family got sick but both recovered. One was confirmed with the coronavirus while the other tested negative.

Health officials always keep a close eye on any clusters of unusual viruses within families, since they may suggest the possibility of human-to-human spread. Still, that is usually due to close contact in which family members are looking after sick loved ones and does not suggest the virus can be easily transmitted.

Experts aren’t sure how the virus is spreading but suspect it may be jumping directly to humans from animals like bats, camels or goats. In the latest case from Qatar, however, the patient had no known links to animals.

WHO said Saudi officials were currently examining how its last cases got infected. “Investigations are ongoing to look at all sorts of exposure, including the possibility of human-to-human transmission,” said spokeswoman Fadela Chaib. So far, there is no evidence the virus can spread easily between people.

The Koch institute says there is no evidence the Qatari patient treated in Germany infected anyone else in the country. “The Robert Koch Institute’s assessment of the risk remains that the possibility of becoming infected in Germany is very low,” the institute said.

About 8,500 people worldwide were affected by SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, in 2003 and about 900 died. http://www.salon.com/2012/11/25/sars_like_virus_concerns_who/

Exams board closes centre over Ebola

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Sunday, 25 November 2012 10:48

By Patience Ahimbisibwe The Citizen Correspondent Kampala.The Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) has closed Ndejje Secondary School examination marking centre following an outbreak of Ebola in the neighbouring Luweero District. Mr Mathew Bukenya, the Uneb executive secretary, said examiners from Luweero are not expected to participate in this year’s marking exercise at all levels of Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) and Business Technical Vocational Education Training. About 600 examiners were expected to stay at the centre for about three weeks to mark PLE. The exercise is expected to start on Tuesday. They have been relocated to Namilyango College. “Because of the outbreak of Ebola, we contacted ministry of Health and we were advised against hosting a big number of people at Ndejje SS. No examiner should travel to Ndejje SS for this year’s marking exercise,” Mr Bukenya said in a press release on Thursday. Uneb had earlier planned two venues: Ndejje SS and Namilyango College as centres for marking PLE English paper. A total of 565,663 candidates sat PLE early this month, 268,782 students for UCE, while 13,919 candidates registered for BTVET exams and 111,581 candidates are expected to sit for UACE. Ebola is caused by a virus belonging to a family called filovirus. There.. http://thecitizen.co.tz/news/49-general-elections-news/27404-exams-board-closes-centre-over-ebola.html

Single dose of new vaccine may help prevent flu pandemic

Washington, Sun, 25 Nov 2012

Washington, November 25 (ANI): Just a single dose of a vaccine being developed by Medicago, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, could protect against not only the avian influenza (H5N1) strain it was designed for, but also another H5N1 strain and a strain of a different flu subtype, called H2N2, researchers have found.

This phenomenon, known as "cross-protection," is highly desirable in an influenza vaccine, especially when the threat of a pandemic influenza outbreak looms. That's because influenza strains often mutate, rendering stockpiled vaccines ineffective.

Medicago has a special advantage in this regard, because the company can rapidly produce a vaccine in less than a month after the identification of a flu strain. This speed results from Medicago's use of entities known as virus-like particles (VLPs) to create its vaccines.

Medicago is a worldwide leader in the development of VLP vaccines using a transient expression system, which produces recombinant vaccine antigens in plants. The accelerated production time frame gives the potential to vaccinate the general public before the first wave of a pandemic.

In the study, researchers gave mice a single dose of Medicago's H5N1 VLP vaccine formulated for the Indonesia H5N1Influenza virus. After 28 days, the mice were given a lethal dose of either the Vietnam H5N1 strain or an H2N2 Influenza virus strain that caused a pandemic in humans in the late 1950s.

The study found Medicago's vaccine protected 100 percent of mice from the Vietnam strain and 70 percent of mice from the H2N2 strain.

In the past, the company has completed Phase I and Phase II human clinical trials for its vaccine for the Indonesia H5N1 Influenza virus, demonstrating that that vaccine produced a solid immune response and was safe and well tolerated.

If further studies support this result, there is a possibility that Medicago's vaccine could offer cross-protection to the general public-perhaps keeping many of us safer from a rapidly mutating menace during the next flu pandemic. (ANI)

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/11/25/27-Single-dose-of-new-vaccine-may-help-prevent-flu-pandemic.html

Virus checks to be extended

25-11-2012

The Health Secretary, Ko Wing-man, has said the government will extend survelliance against the new coronavirus found in the Middle East to travellers from other destinations.On Friday, the World Health Organisation announced four more cases of the "novel" coronavirus in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Two of the six known cases have died. Dr Ko said the the WHO had pointed out that the disease may also be present in other countries. He said any travellers showing symptoms of infection would be tested, no matter where they had come from. http://rthk.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20121125/news_20121125_56_885233.htm

Concerns On WHO SARS-Like Cornavirus Reporting Delays

Recombinomics Commentary 19:15
November 24, 2012

WHO reported a cluster of four cases in October in a family living in the same household in Saudi Arabia, in which a father and son both fell ill with symptoms including pneumonia, fever and respiratory problems. The father, 70, died after developing renal failure. His son was hospitalized shortly afterward and died four days later after multiorgan failure. The son was confirmed with the coronavirus while the father's results are pending.

A new case of coronavirus infection was discovered in Riyadh, according to a statement by the Ministry of Health Tuesday.

“A citizen who visited one of the hospitals in Riyadh complaining of flu-like symptoms raised suspicion. Following appropriate tests and after cross checking the results in an specialized lab abroad, it was confirmed that the man tested positive for the virus," the statement said.

It said the patient was given appropriate treatment and his condition has improved.

The ministry asked the public not to panic, as the infection does not lead to serious complications.

The above comments are from recent media reports describing the most recent SARS-like cases involving a novel betacoronavirus.  As noted in thefirst report (in red), all four were from the same family and developed symptoms in October.  The second report (in blue) described the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MoH) press release which described the case that was confirmed and survived.  The MoH report claims that the infection does not lead to serious complication (see bold above), even though two of the four family members died.

These four cases were described in the WHO November 23 update, which appears to be describing cases a month after the fact, which includes two fatal cases and an absence of test results on the father, who appears to be the index case.

The WHO report withheld the most basic facts on these cases (age, gender, and disease onset dates), which appear to strongly support human to human transmission in October, during the peak period of the Hajj.

The reporting delays and withholding of detail on these cases raises concerns that the novel betacornavirus in Saudi Arabia and Qatar in October has been been dispersed worldwide via Hajj attendees and the WHO is now getting additional reports of cases outside of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, leading to the suggestion for more widespread testing.

The failure of the WHO to promptly report these cases, with appropriate detail, during the Hajj represents a serious hazard to the world’s health.  http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11241205/Betacoronavirus_WHO_Delay.html?

With little information shared, experts express concern about new coronavirus

Helen Branswell, The Canadian Press

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 03:00:00 CST

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The World Health Organization has warned countries to heighten their surveillance for possible cases of infection with the new coronavirus, suggesting patients with unexplained pneumonias should be tested even if they don't have links to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The agency also suggested investigating clusters of severe respiratory infections, and clusters of such illnesses in health-care workers, regardless of where they happen in the world.

Up until now the WHO has said that testing for the new coronavirus should be restricted to patients with severe respiratory infections who had recently travelled to or who were residents of a country that had recorded cases. To date the only confirmed infections have been in Qatari and Saudi nationals.

That change in advice, the basis for which the WHO did not explain, raised eyebrows among some infectious diseases experts, who were quick to try to read between the lines.

"That suggests that they have the idea that it's more widespread. Where does that idea come from? What's the evidence?" wondered Dr. Ron Fouchier.

The Dutch virologist leads the laboratory which in June found that a new coronavirus — from the same general family as the virus that caused SARS — was behind the infection of the first identified case, a man from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

If the WHO has any evidence that the virus has spread further afield, it hasn't revealed it.

But its concern may stem from the fact that over three million Muslim pilgrims have recently returned to their home countries after attending this year's Hajj, which ended in late October.

The WHO's new advice was contained in a statement the agency released Friday in which it announced the global count of confirmed infections with the new virus has risen to six. Two of the confirmed cases have died. All six cases were male.

It also revealed that Saudi Arabia has reported a cluster of cases, with two men confirmed and two others under investigation. The four men shared a household in an undisclosed part of the country.

All four were sick around the same time, suffering similar symptoms, the WHO said. Of the two men under investigation, one died. Test results are still pending on samples taken from the man during his illness.

The other man survived and tested negative for the virus, the WHO said. But it did not disclose the type of test used or when the testing was done.

Until more information is known, it is not clear that the test result can be considered reliable, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

The reliability of the test could vary, depending on when the person was tested, what kind of test was used and the kind and calibre of the specimen being tested, he said.

"If the person had an illness similar to the other illnesses, then ... I believe that you'd have to consider that this test may have been a false negative," said Osterholm, adding testing the survivor's blood for antibodies would shed some light on the situation.

Both the changing WHO advice and the lack of clarity on the testing underscore a problem with this situation, both Osterholm and Fouchier suggested.

Very little about the cases is being publicly shared. And the international teams of scientists who travelled to Saudi Arabia to look for possible sources of the virus have released no information about their investigations.

Fouchier was front and centre in the laboratory effort during the 2003 SARS outbreak. It was his lab, at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, that proved what's called Koch's postulates — the test that confirmed that the newly identified coronavirus was actually causing the disease SARS.

During the early days of the SARS outbreak, the WHO rapidly put together a virtual network of laboratories, tapping into expertise around the world to combat the alarming new disease.

But this time? In the summer, Fouchier's lab identified and sequenced the new coronavirus and developed a test for it. But since then, it's been "radio silence," Fouchier said in an interview Friday.

"Everything I've heard since then has just come from the lay press, which is completely in contrast to how we acted back in the SARS era," he said.

"That was completely different during the SARS outbreak. We were all talking together, exchanging results and giving each other ideas about what to test, how to test, where to test. And none of that is happening now. We just have to rely that they're doing the right thing."

Officials in the know should be sharing more information, Osterholm agreed.

"At this point in any outbreak investigation, there clearly is more information that is known by health officials than likely has been shared," he said.

"But if there were ever a time for complete transparency, now is the time. We've learned that in the past and I'd hate to see us have to relearn the lesson again."   http://www.mysask.com/portal/site/main/template.MAXIMIZE/?javax.portlet.tpst=59fea5a22cbb130bab9e3c1070315ae8_ws_MX&javax.portlet.prp_59fea5a22cbb130bab9e3c1070315ae8_viewID=story&javax.portlet.prp_59fea5a22cbb130bab9e3c1070315ae8_topic_display_name=Health%20News&javax.portlet.prp_59fea5a22cbb130bab9e3c1070315ae8_topic_name=Health&javax.portlet.prp_59fea5a22cbb130bab9e3c1070315ae8_news_item_id_key=20927344&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken

Taiwan-Virus reported in Middle East, DOH issues warning

Four new cases of acute respiratory infection by the “novel” coronavirus have been reported in the Middle East, as Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of the Department of Health issued a warning to the public over the virus yesterday.

The new cases were reported to the WHO, which released the information on Friday. Three cases were reported in Saudi Arabia, where one patient has already died, while the fourth new case was in Qatar.

According to the WHO, the new virus shares some of the symptoms of SARS, which also belongs to the coronavirus family. When SARS emerged in China in 2002, it killed about one-tenth of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.

Scientists have not yet determined how contagious the new type of virus is, or how it spreads.

CDC Officials said that the Saudi Arabia cases occurred in families living in close quarters, indicating that this new coronavirus likely infects humans via person-to-person transmission.

The CDC said measures are being implemented to enhance virus detection at Taiwan’s port-of-entry checkpoints, while urging those who plan to travel to Saudi Arabia or Qatar to take extra precautions regarding personal hygiene and to wash their hands frequently.

The CDC also urged citizens heading to these countries to avoid crowded places and stay away from enclosed spaces without adequate air circulation.

If travelers who have recently returned from Saudi Arabia or Qatar experience signs of illness or respiratory disease, the CDC said they should immediately seek medical treatment. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/11/25/2003548577

Dangerous new respiratory disease: Doctors treat patients with coronavirus, without knowing it

A dangerous respiratory illness SARS resembles alerted physicians. Now the new coronavirus was first detected in a patient in Germany. From the findings, the doctors found out only after the treatment of the man.
For the first time doctors have detected in a patient treated in Germany, the dangerous new coronavirus. The man came in October, first to a hospital in the oil state of Qatar, but was postponed due to severe respiratory symptoms to a specialist chest clinic after North Rhine-Westphalia, such as the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), announced on Friday in Berlin.

The attending physicians were unaware that they were dealing with a coronavirus-infected. Samples of the patients were on RKI information initially sent to the UK. The resident's Health Protection Agency, the RKI had informed only on Thursday on proof of coronaviruses. Since the patient from Qatar had already been discharged from hospital in England because his health had improved.

Staff is now being investigated
The RKI has indicated that as yet no knowledge of disease symptoms with the physicians and nurses of the hospital. Investigations were yet initiated.

When the man from Qatar is the world's sixth known infection with the novel coronavirus. Two of those infected died. The new virus is related to the SARS virus, which is also among the coronaviruses, and ten years ago enabled the world in terror. The World Health Organization, 8000 cases registered at that time, 800 people died of SARS.

Risk of infection to be low
More attentive responded known, the research community, as this September, two infections with a new coronavirus (HCoV-EMC). A 60-year-old from Saudi Arabia died in June, a 49-year-old from Qatar infected early in September. Later, three more cases in Saudi Arabia were known. A striking feature of most patients is a severe respiratory distress syndrome with simultaneous acute renal failure.

http://www.focus.de/gesundheit/news/neue-gefaehrliche-atemwegserkrankung-aerzte-behandeln-patient-mit-coronavirus-ohne-davon-zu-wissen_aid_867527.html?

NOVEL CORONAVIRUS - SAUDI ARABIA (18): WHO, NEW CASES, FAMILY CLUSTER, FATALITY

promed@promedmail.org>
NOVEL CORONAVIRUS - SAUDI ARABIA (18): WHO, NEW CASES, FAMILY CLUSTER, FATALITY
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A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
[To summarize what appears to be going on right now is that there are now 6 cases of illness with the novel coronavirus [nCoV] confirmed and reported to WHO.  Of these 6 cases, 4 have occurred in Saudi Arabian citizens and 2 have occurred in Qatari citizens.  ProMED-mail has reported on 4 of these cases in prior reports -- 3 in Saudi Arabian citizens and 1 in a Qatari citizen (see prior ProMED-mail reports Novel coronavirus - Saudi Arabia (17): 4th case, RFI 20121121.1418018, Novel coronavirus - Saudi Arabia (15): new case 20121104.1391285, Novel coronavirus - Saudi Arabia (03): UK HPA, WHO, Qatar 20120923.1305982, Novel coronavirus - Saudi Arabia (02): additional cases, RFI 20120923.1305931, Novel coronavirus - Saudi Arabia: human isolate 20120920.1302733).  Of these 6 cases, 2 had fatal outcomes (the 1st reported case mentioned in ProMED-mail archive 20120920.1302733, and one of the newly reported cases in the above reports of this update).  In addition, the WHO report mentions that 2 of the newly confirmed cases were epidemiologically linked as family members (one case recovered and one fatality), and that there were 2 additional family members with similar clinical presentations of whom one was found negative for the nCoV while the other (a fatality) was still pending laboratory results.

Information on the full clinical presentations of cases has only been available for the 1st 2 cases reported in September 2012 -- severe pneumonia with renal failure.  Detailed clinical information on the more recent cases reported this month (November 2012) are not as yet available.  At present it appears as though "severe acute respiratory infections (SARI)" is the operative clinical description that should lead clinicians to obtain specimens for testing for infection with this nCoV.

The presence of cases in the same family can either be a sign of human to human transmission or could be related to exposure of the family members to the same common source such as farm animals or bat excreta or other bat bodily fluids (the nCoV is genetically related to known bat CoVs (coronaviruses)).  To date, it does appear as though this new nCoV is not easily transmitted from human to human (the absence of prior secondary cases in close contacts at home, in the community and among healthcare workers caring for the cases).  If human to human transmission is identified in the above mentioned family cluster, one wonders if there would be a similar situation as had been seen with the SARS CoV where there were some individuals who were responsible for "super spreading events" and were responsible for infecting many other individuals, while the majority of individuals were not. (see the Consensus document on the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) available at: http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/WHOconsensus.pdf).  Early attention to universal precautions including respiratory secretions and bodily fluids should prevent these superspreading events from occurring in the healthcare environment where nosocomial transmission is always a concern.  

The decision to increase heightened surveillance for SARI related to infection with this nCoV worldwide, irrespective of known travel history or known contact with travelers is a prudent decision.  As there are more questions than answers about the epidemiology and transmission of this nCoV, the possibility of having had more "silent" spread with less severe clinical presentations separating the chain of identifiable transmission between infected individuals needs to be considered early on in the investigations related to this novel new agent.  Epidemiologically there has been a major population movement through this region recently. This moderator also wonders if specimens were available to retrospectively test for this nCoV infection in the cluster of SARI cases reported in a hospital based outbreak in Jordan in April 2012 mentioned in the prior ProMED-mail report Novel coronavirus - Saudi Arabia (04): RFI, Jordan, April 2012 20120925.1308001.

We await further information on the results of laboratory and epidemiologic investigations as well as clinical presentations of the confirmed cases.

For the HealthMap/ProMED map of the region showing Saudi Arabia and Qatar, see http://healthmap.org/r/1HAJ. - Mod.MPP]     http://www.promedmail.org/

Discover seconds infected Coruna

Entered the hospital last month  Health Council

Discover seconds infected Coruna

Doha - flag: The Supreme Council of Health discovered cases of a second virus Coruna. explained in a statement issued yesterday that it was laboratory diagnosis of the situation last Tuesday, was held a conference call with all stakeholders in the next day and included the World Health Organization and the central disease control American and British.

He pointed out that the patient entered the Hamad General Hospital last month and was treated and gradually improved, but his family asked to travel abroad, and is currently undergoing rehabilitation treatment and can walk.

The Council was informed the World Health Organization (WHO) officially the second case by the liaison officer of the International Health Regulations 2005 Thursday, and that the total number of cases worldwide 6 cases, including two cases been registered in Qatar.

He pointed to the tightening-up of suspects and sending Aantahm for examination and sent many samples are all negative confirming the absence of other cases and all contacts of the case discovered in good health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday: that a lethal virus from the same family as the virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) recently discovered led to the deaths of two people in Saudi Arabia and Qatar so far, bringing the total number of cases to six.   

http://www.raya.com/news/pages/a1682381-c37f-47b0-b614-444fca82cf67

Coronavirus: SARS-like virus confirmed in Qatari man

The new virus, which was by Britain’s Health Protection Agency in September has killed two people in Saudi Arabia with the total number of confirmed cases now rising to siA middle-aged Qatari man has been confirmed to have the SARS-like coronavirus Friday after traveling to Saudi Arabia.

The new virus, which was by Britain’s Health Protection Agency in September, has killed two people in Saudi Arabia, with the total number of confirmed cases now rising to six.

Despite the small number of cases, health experts say that the virus is new in humans and there is a risk of an outbreak, reported CBS News.

The announcement of the Qatari man was made by Germany's Robert Koch Institute, which treated the m  http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/121123/coronavirus-sars-virus-confirmed-qatari-man?

Cluster of coronavirus cases raises spectre of person to person spread: WHO Read it on Global News: Global Regina | Cluster of coronavirus cases raises spectre of person to person spread: WHO

Helen Branswell

A cluster of infections caused by the new coronavirus is being investigated to see if it was triggered by person-to-person spread, the World Health Organization said Friday.

The WHO announced four new cases of the virus, three of which occurred in Saudi Arabia. The fourth was a man from Qatar who travelled to Germany for care.

The global agency said it is also in the process of reviewing its case definition to help health-care practitioners spot possible additional infections.

It advised countries to be on the lookout for possible cases, even in people who haven't travelled to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the only two countries to date to have had citizens who have tested positive for the virus.

"Until more information is available, it is prudent to consider that the virus is likely more widely distributed than just the two countries which have identified cases," the WHO's statement says.

"Member states should consider testing of patients with unexplained pneumonias for the new coronavirus even in the absence of travel or other associations with the two affected countries."

The statement — and word on Twitter that the European Centre for Disease Control is planning to update its risk assessment of the coronavirus — suggests public health officials are worrying there are more instalments ahead in the story of this virus, a cousin of the coronavirus that cause SARS.

"Before we were wondering if these were really one-off transmissions which were just oddities in that they happened to occur around the same time," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

"Now with these cases, you can't say it's just a very rare event."

The WHO said as of Friday there have been six confirmed cases of the infection, four from Saudi Arabia and two from Qatar. (Saudi officials had previously reported two of the cases to which the WHO statement refers.)

Two of the confirmed cases have died; both the fatal cases were Saudi citizens.

The Robert Koch Institute in Berlin informed the WHO of the latest Qatari case. A statement from the institute said the man recovered and was released this week.

All the confirmed cases have been men, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in an email.

The new virus was first spotted in June, when a man from Saudi Arabia died after a serious respiratory infection. When the cause of his infection couldn't be identified, an infectious diseases specialist from the Riyadh hospital sent a specimen to Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which confirmed infection with a new coronavirus.

But word of the discovery of the new virus did not emerge until late September, around the time authorities in Britain were trying to diagnose a gravely ill man from Qatar who had travelled to London for treatment by air ambulance. The man, who is still in hospital in London, tested positive for the virus.

Up till now there has been no suggestion of person-to-person spread of the virus, prompting authorities to say the virus didn't pose a global threat. But this cluster in Saudi Arabia may change thinking on that.

Two men in a single household fell ill and tested positive for the virus. One of the two died.

Two other members of the same household were sick at the same time with similar symptoms; one of those men died as well. The survivor tested negative for the virus, but results are still pending on the testing of samples taken from the man who died, the WHO said Friday.

Chaib said if there was human-to-human spread in this case it looks like it petered out. She said work is underway to try to tease out whether the people were all infected from a single non-human source, or if one member of the household picked up the infection and passed it along.

"The timing of the cases in the Saudi cluster does raise that concern but when a cluster occurs in a setting such as a household where everyone has similar environmental exposures it can be very difficult to separate out exposure to the same environmental source versus spread from one person to another," she said.

"Investigations are on-going to try and answer this question, however if H2H (human-to-human spread) has occurred, it does not appear to be sustained."

Osterholm said too little information is known at present to be reassured that the negative test was a true negative. The reliability of the test could vary, depending on when the person was tested, what kind of test was used and the kind and calibre of the specimen being tested, he said.

"If the person had an illness similar to the other illnesses, then ... I believe that you'd have to consider that this test may have been a false negative," said Osterholm, adding testing the survivor's blood for antibodies would shed some light on the situation.

It's not clear what kind of testing has been done. In fact, very little information about the cases has been revealed.

The new statement does not mention the ages of the cases or when they became sick. It also does not say what symptoms the men suffered from, how they were treated or how sick the survivors were.

It does not reveal where the cases lived — in a city or in a rural setting, where they might be in closer proximity to animals that could be the source of the virus.

Last month teams of researchers from Columbia University in New York, the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control travelled to Saudi Arabia to investigate possible sources of the new virus. To date they have not publicly revealed whether they found any clues where the virus comes from or how people become infected with it.

The genetic blueprints of viruses recovered from the first two cases suggest this coronavirus comes from bats. But it is not known at this point whether the viruses jumped directly from bats to people — say through exposure to bat guano or urine — or from bats to other animals and then to humans.  

Read it on Global News: Global Regina | Cluster of coronavirus cases raises spectre of person to person spread: WHO   http://www.globalregina.com/health/cluster+of+coronavirus+cases+raises+spectre+of+person+to+person+spread+who/6442759396/story.html

Nakasongola Bans Prison Visits Over Ebola, Luweero Undecided

Authorities at Nakasongola prison have banned visits to more 680 inmates after the outbreak of Ebola Sudan virus was reported in nearby Luweero district. http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=47625