Another Saudi MERS case in Taif
After a small flurry of five new MERS-CoV cases over the past few days, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today announced yet another case, this one in a 70-year-old man in Taif, site of three weekend cases.
The infected man, who is hospitalized, is not a healthcare worker, nor did he report any animal exposure. He did, however, have preexisting disease.
The new infection brings the total cases of MERS-CoV (Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus) in Saudi Arabia since June of 2012 to 771. A total of 328 cases have been fatal, and 431 patients have recovered.
The MOH's update also listed the recovery of a 50-year-old man from Najran, leaving 12 active cases currently under treatment.
Oct 21 MOH update
Oct 20 CIDRAP News story regarding recent cases
US EV-D68 cases reach 938
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today it has confirmed 938 cases of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) in 46 states and the District of Columbia, up from 922 cases yesterday.
Almost all of the cases involve children, many of whom have asthma. As noted yesterday, 12 states reported elevated or increasing EV-D68 activity in the week that ended Oct 10, the CDC said. The states without cases are Iowa, Montana, Nevada, and Oklahoma.
"CDC has received substantially more specimens for enterovirus lab testing than usual this year, due to the large outbreak of EV-D68 and related hospitalizations," the agency said in the update. "CDC has prioritized testing of specimens from children with severe respiratory illness. There are likely many children affected with milder forms of illness."
Of the more than 1,400 specimens tested by the CDC, about half have tested positive for EV-D68 and a third for a different enterovirus or a rhinovirus, the agency said. The CDC said it expects cases to decline by late fall.
CDC EV-D68 outbreak page
CDC EV-D68 activity by state
Oct 20 CIDRAP News scan on yesterday's numbers