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An update to middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus and risk of a pandemic in 2019

Kazhal Mobaraki

Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran

Jamal Ahmadzadeh

Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran

DOI: 10.15761/CMID.1000153

Article
Article Info
Author Info
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Dear Editor,

Based on available data and current situation of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) on disease outbreak news of World Health Organization (WHO) website, 2374 MERS-CoV cases including 823 associated deaths (globally case fatality rate was 34.66%) occurred from 27 countries in worldwide [1]. Constant incidence of a large number of MERS-CoV cases and high lethality related to MERS-CoV infection indicate that this infection must be considered as a threat to global health security with high intensity and lethality. Since there is not still a vaccine or specific treatment to prevention of MERS-CoV [2], all at-risk individuals in involved countries are better to have a focus on preventive measures. Every year, millions of muslims travel to epicenter of this infection in Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj. The pilgrims on return to home hold ceremony which was attended by family and friends. Oriental etiquette to want to share hospitality with others increases transmission of probable MERS-CoV to others. This represents that MERS-CoV capable transmit from human-to-human but the virus does not pass easily from person to person unless when an individual is in close contact [3]. The current epidemiological status of MERS-CoV from 2019-01-01 until 2019-04-15 presented in table 1. This data showed that during the mentioned period the most of MERS-CoV patients were male (89.5%) with age > 50-year-old (57.9%). After 8 years from the start of the MERS-CoV pandemic, Saudi Arabia (most MERS-CoV cases occurred in the Riyadh city), 56.5% had comorbidities and 12.9% were health care worker, 24.7% had history for exposure to camels, 23.5% reported that they had camel milk consumption and 62.4% had a positive history for exposure to MERS-CoV Cases. During the course of this study, 14 people with MERS-CoV died and remaining survived. Thus, the latest case fatality rate related to MERS-CoV infection was 16.47%.

Overall, In today’s “global village”, there is a probability of MERS-CoV epidemic at any time and in any place without prior notice. Thus, health systems in all involved countries should implement better triage systems for potentially imported cases of MERS-CoV to prevent large epidemics.

Table 1. Sample characteristics of 85 MERS patients in the worlds in 2019

Characteristic

Levels

n

%

Age (year)

≤ 50

8

42.1

> 50

11

57.9

Gender

Male

17

89.5

Female

2

10.5

Reporting Country

Oman

13

15.3

Saudi Arabia

72

84.7

City of Residence

Al-Qassim

5

5.9

Asir

1

1.2

Jeddah

3

3.5

Madinah

1

1.2

Makkah

1

1.2

Najran

1

1.2

North Al-Batinah

9

10.6

Quryiat

1

1.2

Riyadh

58

68.2

South sharquia

4

4.7

Tabouk

1

1.2

Health Care Worker

Yes

11

12.9

No

74

87.1

Comorbidities

Yes

48

56.5

No

37

43.5

Exposure to Camels

Yes

21

24.7

No

13

15.5

Not reported

51

60.0

Camel Milk Consumption

Yes

20

23.5

No

12

14.1

Not reported

53

62.4

Exposure to MERS-CoV Cases

Yes

53

62.4

No

2

2.4

Not reported

30

35.3

Final Outcome

Dead

14

16.5

Survived

71

83.5

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

  1. World health organization. Emergencies preparedness, response: MERS-CoV Disease outbreak news [updated in 2019-04-16]. Available from: http://www.who.int/csr/don/archive/disease/coronavirus_infections/en/
  2. Song Z, Xu Y, Bao L, Zhang L, Yu P, et al. (2019) From SARS to MERS, Thrusting Coronaviruses into the Spotlight. Viruses 11: 59. [Crossref]
  3. Habibzadeh F (2014) Hajj ritual and risk of a pandemic. Am J Infect Control 42: 84. [Crossref]

Editorial Information

Editor-in-Chief

Yeun-Hwa Gu
Junshin Gakuen University, Japan

Article Type

Letter to Editor

Publication history

Received date: April 16, 2019
Accepted date: April 26, 2019
Published date: April 30, 2019

Copyright

©2019 Mobaraki K. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation

Mobaraki K, Ahmadzadeh J (2019) An update to middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus and risk of a pandemic in 2019. Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 4: DOI: 10.15761/CMID.1000153

Corresponding author

Jamal Ahmadzadeh

Epidemiologist in Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Resalat Street, Urmia, Iran

E-mail : bhuvaneswari.bibleraaj@uhsm.nhs.uk

Table 1. Sample characteristics of 85 MERS patients in the worlds in 2019

Characteristic

Levels

n

%

Age (year)

≤ 50

8

42.1

> 50

11

57.9

Gender

Male

17

89.5

Female

2

10.5

Reporting Country

Oman

13

15.3

Saudi Arabia

72

84.7

City of Residence

Al-Qassim

5

5.9

Asir

1

1.2

Jeddah

3

3.5

Madinah

1

1.2

Makkah

1

1.2

Najran

1

1.2

North Al-Batinah

9

10.6

Quryiat

1

1.2

Riyadh

58

68.2

South sharquia

4

4.7

Tabouk

1

1.2

Health Care Worker

Yes

11

12.9

No

74

87.1

Comorbidities

Yes

48

56.5

No

37

43.5

Exposure to Camels

Yes

21

24.7

No

13

15.5

Not reported

51

60.0

Camel Milk Consumption

Yes

20

23.5

No

12

14.1

Not reported

53

62.4

Exposure to MERS-CoV Cases

Yes

53

62.4

No

2

2.4

Not reported

30

35.3

Final Outcome

Dead

14

16.5

Survived

71

83.5