Saudi Arabia reports new MERS case in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) recently reported a new MERS-CoV case, which involves a 71-year-old woman from the capital city of Riyadh.
The woman's contact with camels isn't known, and authorities have classified her exposure to MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) as primary, meaning she probably wasn't exposed to another sick patient, according to an update to the MOH's epidemiologic week 24 report.
The latest illness brings Saudi Arabia's MERS-CoV total this year to 151 cases. The World Health Organization said in an update on the disease at the end of April that it had received reports of 2,428 cases, at least 839 of them fatal, since the first infections were detected in humans in 2012.
Jun 14 Saudi MOH epidemiologic week 24 report
Officials say US Candida auris cases nearing 700
The number of confirmed and probable illnesses caused by the drug-resistant fungus Candida auris has increased by 41, to 684, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a Jun 13 update.
The numbers are through Apr 30. In its previous update, involving cases through March, the CDC reported 643 C auris cases.
The number of affected states remains at 12. New York is by far the hardest-hit state, with 334 cases, followed by Illinois at 168 and New Jersey at 116. The next-highest state is Florida, with 13 cases, but state officials have yet to include April data in their latest numbers.
As in the previous update more than a month ago, 30 cases are listed as probable. Which means 654 infections are lab-confirmed. An additional 1,207 patients have been found to be colonized by C auris, as determined by targeted screening in nine of the affected states.
Since its first identification in 2009 in Japan, C auris has triggered outbreaks in healthcare facilities in more than 20 countries and has shown resistance to three major antifungal drug classes. Other countries have reported single cases. All told, at least 34 nations have been affected, the CDC said.
C auris can cause serious invasive infections in patients who have compromised immune systems, and the CDC has estimated that 30% to 60% of patients with infections have died.
Jun 13 CDC update
