Increase in Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus Cases in Saudi Arabia Linked to Hospital Outbreak With Continued Circulation of Recombinant Virus, July 1

Increase in Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus Cases in Saudi Arabia Linked to Hospital Outbreak With Continued Circulation of Recombinant Virus, July 1–August 31, 2015

Published:2016 Issue:3 Volume:3 Page:
ISSN:2328-8957
Container-title:Open Forum Infectious Diseases
language:en
Short-container-title:

Author:

Assiri Abdullah M.¹,Biggs Holly M.²,Abedi Glen R.²,Lu Xiaoyan²,Bin Saeed Abdulaziz¹³,Abdalla Osman¹,Mohammed Mutaz¹,Al-Abdely Hail M.¹,Algarni Homoud S.¹,Alhakeem Raafat F.¹,Almasri Malak M.¹,Alsharef Ali A.¹,Nooh Randa¹,Erdman Dean D.²,Gerber Susan I.²,Watson John T.²

Affiliation:

1. Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

2. Division of Viral Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

3. Department of Family and Community Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Abstract During July–August 2015, the number of cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) reported from Saudi Arabia increased dramatically. We reviewed the 143 confirmed cases from this period and classified each based upon likely transmission source. We found that the surge in cases resulted predominantly (90%) from secondary transmission largely attributable to an outbreak at a single healthcare facility in Riyadh. Genome sequencing of MERS coronavirus from 6 cases demonstrated continued circulation of the recently described recombinant virus. A single unique frameshift deletion in open reading frame 5 was detected in the viral sequence from 1 case.

Funder

Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of an urgent public health response

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Infectious Diseases,Oncology

Link

http://academic.oup.com/ofid/article-pdf/3/3/ofw165/33621992/ofw165.pdf

Reference15 articles.

1. Risk factors for primary Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) illness in humans;Alraddadi;Emerg Infect Dis,2015

2. 2014 MERS-CoV outbreak in Jeddah--a link to health care facilities;Oboho;N Engl J Med,2015

3. Transmission of MERS-coronavirus in household contacts;Drosten;N Engl J Med,2014