Saudi Arabia reports 6 more MERS cases, 3 deaths
Lisa Schnirring
CIDRAP News
May 16, 2014
Saudi Arabia’s steady pace of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infections continued today, with the country’s health ministry reporting six new cases and three deaths.
The new cases are all from areas that have recently reported other MERS infections, with two reports each from Riyadh, Jeddah, and Taif, according to an update from the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH).
One of the patients is asymptomatic, three are in stable condition, one is critical, and one died from her illness yesterday. Four of them have underlying medical conditions.
Five of the patients are adults ranging in age from 28 to 80. The other patient is an 11-year-old boy who was hospitalized with a brain tumor on Jan 17 and developed respiratory symptoms on May 14.
Only one patient—a 35-year-old woman who was first hospitalized in Mecca, then transferred to a facility in Jeddah—was reported to have had contact with another MERS patient. Healthcare-related exposure or contact with camels or animal environments wasn’t noted for any of the patients.
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