MERS-CoV Update: new outbreak in Saudi Arabia

New cases Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have been reported in Saudi Arabia. Four more deaths were announced, bringing the number of deaths in the past week to 17. The World Health Organization (WHO) says many of the recent cases are associated with an outbreak at a hospital in Riyadh.

Several other countries have also reported MERS-CoV cases in individuals who have travelled to the Middle East, including France, Italy, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). These individuals acquired the disease through limited local transmission among close contacts, including health care workers. The outbreak in South Korea, which began in May, was the largest outbreak of MERS-CoV outside the Middle East. It has now been brought under control, with no new cases reported since July 4, 2015.

The risk to Canadians is low. This virus does not spread easily from person to person, and the risk of exposure is primarily in the affected Middle Eastern countries.

The current understanding of MERS-CoV is that it has entered the human population from direct or indirect contact with infected camels or camel-related products (e.g. raw camel milk). In situations where it has appeared to have spread between people, those cases involved close contact with MERS-Cov infected individuals including family members, fellow patients and healthcare workers, indicating the importance of following strict infection control practices in health care settings.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has a great deal of MERS information on their website; you can also read updates relevant to Canada on the Public Health Agency of Canada website.

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