Jordan Reports 5th MERS Case In A Week

#10,468

 

After going 8 months without reporting any coronavirus cases, on Wednesday of last week we learned of a Jordanian MERS case – described as a man in his 60s –  who reportedly has since died. The following day another case - a 38 y.o. male – was announced.

 

While details are scant, both reportedly had recent travel out of the country.  Their relationship, if any, has not been disclosed. 

 

On Friday, we saw Media Reports Of Two Additional MERS Cases In Jordan (Updated), both listed as contacts of one of the first two cases.  The Jordanian MOH website has remained silent on these cases, but over the weekend posted two long statements (in Arabic) on the control of MERS.

 

Committee Epidemiology confirms the safety measures to deal with Koruna

Health stresses the need to follow health guidelines to reduce the respiratory disease

 

Overnight we’ve a report from PETRA, the Jordanian News Agency, of a 5th case – which while not expressly stated, appears to be the result of nosocomial transmission.

 

New MERS case recorded in Jordan

By Petra - Aug 30,2015 - Last updated at Aug 30,2015

AMMAN — A new case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus-related infection has been registered in the Kingdom, the Health Ministry said Sunday.

The diagnosed 56-year-old patient suffers from diabetes, blood pressure-related diseases and kidney failure, said Mohammad Abdullat, director of the ministry’s communicable diseases control department.

The patient also recently underwent open-heart surgery, Abdullat added. A team from the directorate is supervising the private hospital’s measures to prevent the spread of the infection and is also following up on the situation of the patient’s relatives and the medical staff who examined him. Since the MERS virus was first registered in Jordan in 2012, 17 cases have been recorded.

 

You’ll note that the claim that 17 cases have been recorded in Jordan differs from the count offered by the ECDC, which sat at 19 before this latest cluster began. 

This difference of 7 cases appears to be due the Jordanians not including 7 cases retrospectively identified in 2014 as infected from the first known hospital cluster of April 2012 (see Serological Testing Of 2012 Jordanian MERS Outbreak).

 
Curious, as this study was conducted in cooperation with Jordanian MOH, and Jordan’s MERS investigation team.