Nosocomial MERS outbreak shows more ‘intense transmission’ of disease.

An investigation of a large outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, coronavirus at a hospital in Saudi Arabia revealed a more “intense transmission” of the infection than previously recorded in other outbreaks. “Since the first diagnosis of [MERS] … in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012, sporadic cases and clusters have occurred throughout the country,” the researchers said. “This large MERS outbreak in a major tertiary-care hospital in Riyadh was thought to be related to emergency department overcrowding, uncontrolled patient movement and high visitor traffic. The outbreak required institution of multiple measures to interrupt transmission, including almost complete shutdown of the hospital.” A man aged 67 years was admitted to the 1,200-bed hospital in June 2015 with a history of fever and cough. Despite no identified exposure to camels, reverse transcription PCR of a nasopharyngeal swab revealed the presence of MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The patient died 31 days after admittance, and had no identified contact with any subsequent cases. Three weeks after the index patient was admitted to care, a second case of MERS was confirmed. After the hospital’s infection control program initiated an outbreak investigation to identify risk factors and exposures, 81 confirmed and 49 probable cases of MERS were identified at the hospital over approximately 2 months. One-third of these cases occurred among health care workers (HCWs), and the majority of all cases were linked to the hospital’s ED. Nearly three-quarters of patients required hospitalization, 16% were asymptomatic and 53% died. During the outbreak, the hospital initiated a pre-existing Infectious Disease Epidemic Plan developed from CDC and WHO guidelines. Despite strict enforcement of infection control practices, including hand hygiene and isolation of cases, more patients and HCWs continued to be infected, leading the hospital to close its ED, postpone elective surgical procedures and suspend all outpatient appointments and visits. These measures were associated with a rapid decline in new cases, and eventually led to the outbreak’s conclusion. culled from healio.com

Viruses that spread from animals to humans are on the rise.

Viruses that develop in animals and can spread to humans are on the rise around the world and scientists say more research is needed to prevent them from evolving. Viruses that pose a risk to both human and animal health are known as zoonotic diseases.The more severe examples include ebola in west Africa, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the Arabian Peninsula, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Asia, and even Hendra in Australia. The University's Dr Siobhan Mor has just completed a study into how much scientists know about such animal diseases before they develop.She said half of the data that exists focuses on known zoonotic diseases, and there is a lack of information on animal viruses that have the potential to develop into human ones."We identified 10 diseases that occur at the livestock-wildlife interface, majority of which also affect humans, and found that the majority of the research has been occurring on these [10] particular diseases since the 1960s," Dr Mor said."There has been a lot of research on these particular diseases, with far less on other diseases occurring."Dr Mor said the findings are concerning, given animal diseases could pose a greater risk to human health as livestock production systems become more intensive."We are seeing more diseases occurring now in people as a result of those livestock systems and the way we are producing human food," she said.We are seeing more diseases occurring now in people as a result of those livestock systems and the way we are producing human food. Dr Siobhan Mor, University of Sydney, "We are raising animals in close proximity to wildlife because we have cleared land in order to make way for our agricultural production." Dr Mor said sometimes new diseases are detected in humans first, which are later found to have initially developed in animals, such as HIV."Historically, we know that HIV comes from animals, but what the research shows is there are increasingly new diseases being found in humans and we later determine have been occurring in animals as well."Dr Mor said Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, is a more modern example of an animal disease that has become more problematic for humans in recent decades."I think everyone's eyes are on viruses known as coronaviruses," she said. Zoonotic diseases have become more publicised recently with the west African ebola outbreak, which has so far killed more than 10,000 people.Fruit bats are thought to be the natural hosts of the ebola virus, as is also the case with the deadly Hendra virus in Australia. Hendra has infected seven Australians and killed four, as well as countless horses, since it was first recorded in the Brisbane suburb of Hendra in 1994. Dr Mor said human Hendra cases demonstrated a need to understand more about bats, which are linked to a number of zoonotic diseases."Bats are really interesting and we now know they harbour many germs which can make people very sick," Read more here; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-21/researchers-say-more-information-is-needed-zoonotic-diseases/6635738