3 Koreans in Philippines negative for MERS

[fred]

MANILA, Philippines - The country remains free from the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus (MERS-CoV), the Department of Health (DOH) assured the public yesterday.
Three Korean nationals initially suspected of having MERS-CoV turned up negative for the virus when tested at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa, DOH spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy said during a press conference yesterday.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/07/01/1471979/3-koreans-philippines-negative-mers

[Doc Alan]

This is the fifth thread started on the topic of MERS-CoV . Recently the second laboratory-confirmed case of infection in the Philippines has been reported. The first case was in January – a Filipino nurse working in Saudi Arabia who survived the disease.


• On July 6 the Philippines Department of Health ( DoH ) announced the second case – a 36 years old male from Finland who had travelled to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. He had no symptoms until June 30 when he developed fever and cough, and was tested positive for MERS-CoV on 4 July. He has been placed in isolation and is said to currently remain stable.


• DoH is carrying out active tracing of household and healthcare contacts, and also all passengers on the flights from Singapore to Manila. National authorities of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have been informed.


• Globally, since September 2012 World Health Organization ( WHO ) has been notified of around 1,370 cases and approaching 500 deaths from MERS-CoV infection. There have been over 180 cases, and 35 deaths, reported in the South Korean outbreak.


• Realistically it shouldn’t be surprising that infections such as MERS could appear anywhere in the world - it seems that health workers in South Korea were at first taken by surprise at the outbreak, as MERS was an infection " on the other side of the world ".



• Coronaviruses can " jump " easily from animal to animal, and 6 out of the 25(+) strains identified can " jump " from animals to human beings. They may cause lung disease, perhaps then multiorgan failure and death ( around a third ) – especially in the elderly and those with pre-existing illness. There’s NO therapeutic drug to treat, nor a vaccine to prevent, infection.


• It’s thought that Arab dromedary ( one-humped ) camels are the main " reservoir " of MERS-CoV infection. Most of the South Korean cases probably came from the Middle East by travellers – and were then transmitted in hospitals from infected patients to family visitors and hospital staff.



• So far, we don’t know how the virus is transmitted ; what other animals may harbour the virus ; and the full spectrum of illness it may cause. Close contact between people does seem to be required, and person-person transmission is NOT occurring to a great extent.



• WHO is being criticised, as it was for the Ebola epidemic, for not moving fast enough to recognise MERS as a public health emergency of international concern. At present, WHO DOESN'T recommend travel or trade restrictions - fair enough, although awareness about MERS-CoV among travellers to and from affected countries is good public health practice. Meanwhile, research is underway into drugs for potential treatment of MERS and several vaccines ( for camels, as well as humans ).


Please see " Health Issues " section of the Forum for the other threads, and these links, if you wish more information :-


http://biotechin.asia/2015/07/08/department-of-health-confirms-mers-in-philippines/


http://www.who.int/csr/don/08-july-2015-mers-philippines/en/



http://www.who.int/csr/don/07-july-2015-mers-korea/en/



http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)61186-2/fulltext?rss=yes