Enhanced MERS Coronavirus Surveillance of Travelers from the Middle East to England

Abstract

During the first year of enhanced MERS coronavirus surveillance in England, 77 persons traveling from the Middle East had acute respiratory illness and were tested for the virus. Infection was confirmed in 2 travelers with acute respiratory distress syndrome and 2 of their contacts. Patients with less severe manifestations tested negative.

Assessing the risk of observing multiple generations of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) cases given an imported case

“…Using secondary data sources [2,[7][8][9][10][11], we extracted the numbers of secondary cases and generations for each reported importation event of MERS. We excluded data from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from the analysis because cases in these endemic countries have frequently experienced exposures to a domestic animal reservoir (e.g.…”

Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus in Iran in 2014

“…In Saudi Arabia, 62-72z of MERS-CoV cases were men (14,15). In other countries with imported MERS-CoV cases, most of the patients were also men (16,17).…”

“…The mortality rate of MERS-CoV varied worldwide ranging from 22 to 100z (15,16,18,19). Saudi Arabia was the most involved country and had a reported MERS-CoV mortality rate of 60z (15).…”

Resource impact of managing suspected Middle East respiratory syndrome patients in a UK teaching hospital

“…5,6 Although there are few actual cases of MERS-CoV in returning pilgrims, the potential for transmission during large religious pilgrimages, especially Hajj, have raised concerns. 7,8 Given an incubation period of up to two weeks, asymptomatic patients may return unaware that they have contracted the disease.…”