Official MERS Coronavirus tally is 163 cases and 70 deaths
In a follow-up to a story reported earlier today, the World Health Organization (WHO) released it’s official Disease Outbreak News confirming the three Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the United Arab Emirates.
As reported earlier, the WHO says:
The three cases belong to a family in Abu Dhabi – a mother (32 years old), father (38 years old) and son (8 years old). The earliest onset of illness was 15 November 2013. Both the mother and father are in a critical condition in hospital. They had no travel history, no contact with a known confirmed case and no history of contact with animals. While hospitalized, the mother gave birth to a newborn child. The 8 year old son, who has mild respiratory symptoms, was detected from epidemiological investigation of family contacts, and is being kept in hospital isolation. Further investigations into close contacts of the family, the newborn baby, and healthcare workers are on-going.
In addition to the UAE cases, the WHO also reports that two previously laboratory-confirmed cases from Qatar died on 19 and 29 November 2013.
To date, WHO has been informed of a total of 163 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 70 deaths.
For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
Looking for a job in health care? Check here to see what’s available
Image/Maureen Metcalfe; Azaibi Tamin
