MERS Outbreak in Saudi Arabia: Health Agencies Racing Against Time

Health agencies are racing against time to find the source of the MERS outbreak in Saudi Arabia, after three confirmed cases of the disease emerged in people who had no direct contact with camels, which is the main source of this virus, according to what was reported by the newspaper “telegraph“British.

The virus that causes the disease is called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and it belongs to the same family as coronaviruses, but with a much higher death rate, as 35 of the confirmed cases have died, a according to the World Health Organization.

The virus is transmitted from single-humped camels, and most previous outbreaks have been traced to humans in close contact with these mammals or their raw milk.

However, authorities have not been able to link the current outbreak to animals, as the latest cases were discovered when a 56-year-old professor in the capital, Riyadh, was hospitalized in early April, raising concerns that less severe cases could spread accidentally. .

The World Health Organization expects that less severe and asymptomatic cases have historically been overlooked, which may also affect the overall mortality rate.

“There was no clear history of showing typical risk factors for MERS-CoV,” the UN agency said in a warning this week, adding that “investigations, including identification of the source of the disease came, still going. “

The first case, a man with underlying health conditions, was hospitalized in early April after suffering a cough, fever and other body aches. He later died of illness.

But two other men at the same hospital, both aged 60, tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting a massive contact tracing effort by health officials to find more infections before they spread further. Dozens of people have been diagnosed.

“Hospitals can be a source of prevention or amplification of transmission,” said Dr. Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“I’ve spent a lot of time studying the spread of MERS in healthcare and using those lessons to improve emergency preparedness in healthcare, and really, that’s why we’re investing in it their disease prevention programs,” she wrote on the X platform.

“He is there and a danger”

The coronavirus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome was discovered in 2012 in Saudi Arabia, and since then this zoonotic virus has spread to 27 other countries.

Globally, 2,204 cases and 860 deaths have been reported, according to the World Health Organization. The majority, more than 80 percent, were registered in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this year, a death was also recorded in Taif, a city west of Riyadh.

Several large chains of transmission have previously been documented in healthcare facilities – including the largest outbreak outside the Middle East, in South Korea in 2015, when the country 185 cases and 38 deaths when the coronavirus swept through 24 hospitals.

While there are several treatments and vaccines for MERS in clinical development, unlike Covid-19, none have gone through clinical trials and been approved by regulators.

Dr Tom Fletcher, an infectious disease specialist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said: “This is a good reminder that we have no proven antiviral treatments, vaccines or rapid diagnostic tests for MERS.”

The World Health Organization explained that the latest cases do not change the overall risk assessment, although they “expect that additional cases of MERS-CoV infection will be reported from the Middle East and/or other countries where MERS-CoV common in single hip. a camel.”

Airfinty, a health analytics company that monitors disease outbreaks around the world, said there was a “significant threat” to the city of Riyadh.

At the same time, Professor Peter Horby, Director of the Institute of Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, confirmed on the platform “X”: “MERS-CoV is still there and still a threat.”

He said that “Saudi Arabia has great experience in detecting and combating the spread of MERS associated with health care,” while other places may be “less aware and prepared.”

Professor David Hayman, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said there was “no change in the epidemiology” of these diseases.

He continued: “The reference case is not the first case, but it is possible that she had the infection from the first case – they are looking for that case now.”