Biological Hazard: MERS-COv in Jordan

Epidemic Hazard  – Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-COv)

Middle-East  –  Jordan | Amman
Bio-hazard Level: 4/4 Hazardous
Location: N 31° 57.395, E 35° 56.742
Deaths: 2
Infected: 1

Update No. 2 on Monday, 02 June, 2014 at 06:44 UTC

“The man, who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, died in hospital on Wednesday,” Sultan Kasrawi of the ministry’s communicable disease department. A 69-year-old man has died in Jordan after being infected with the Mers coronavirus, a health ministry official said on Sunday. “The man, who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, died in hospital on Wednesday,” Sultan Kasrawi of the ministry’s communicable disease department. “He died five days after he was admitted to hospital.” Kasrawi said the latest death brings to six the number of fatalities in Jordan from Mers since it first emerged in 2012. MERS is considered a deadlier but less transmissible cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) virus that appeared in Asia in 2003 and killed hundreds of people, mostly in China. Like Sars, it appears to cause a lung infection, with patients suffering coughing, breathing difficulties and a temperature. But Mers differs in that it also causes rapid kidney failure.

Update No. 1 on Monday, 12 May, 2014 at 12:24 UTC

A man has died in Jordan after being infected with the MERS virus, the government said Monday, on the eve of a World Health Organization emergency meeting on the disease. The latest death brings to five the number of fatalities in Jordan from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus since it first emerged in 2012. The man, in his 50s, worked in a private hospital and died on Sunday, the health ministry said. The announcement came after Saudi Arabia on Sunday reported that three new deaths from MERS had taken its death toll from the disease to 142. MERS has now infected 483 people in the Gulf kingdom since it first appeared in 2012, accounting for the vast majority of the 496 cases registered worldwide. It is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003, infecting 8,273 people and killing nearly 800. Like SARS, it appears to cause a lung infection, with patients suffering coughing, breathing difficulties and a temperature, but MERS differs in that it also causes rapid kidney failure. Although most MERS infections have been in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been recorded in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and even the United States. Most cases outside Saudi Arabia involve people who had travelled to the kingdom or worked there, often as medical staff. The UN’s health agency WHO is to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the worrying spread of MERS. “The increase in the number of cases in different countries raises a number of questions,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said on Friday, without elaborating.

Biological Hazard in Jordan on Sunday, 13 April, 2014 at 01:48 (01:48 AM) UTC.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday the health ministry of Jordan has informed it of an additional laboratory-confirmed case of human infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The patient is a 52 year-old man with underlying medical conditions and had visited Saudi Arabia from March 20 to 29. He took ill on March 25 and visited a hospital in Jeddah. He returned to Jordan on March 29 and visited a hospital in Amman on the same day and on April 2. The patient is currently in a stable condition. WHO said the authorities in Jordan are in contact with the concerned officials in Saudi Arabia to follow up on all close contacts of the case. From September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 212 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV globally, including 88 deaths. Based on the current situation and available information, WHO urged all Member-States to continue their surveillance for Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) and carefully review any unusual patterns. WHO stressed that recent travelers returning from the Middle East who develop SARI should be tested for MERS-CoV as advised in the current surveillance recommendations.

Source: RSOE EDIS