faulker024

 Influenza A(H7N9) is a novel infectious bird flu strain that burst on the world's stage at the beginning of April 2013. Since then at least 132 individuals have been infected and more than 35 have died. [1] In an article entitled Taiwan faces challenges on the emerging avian influenza A (H7N9) virus in China [2], researchers from Taiwan raise concerns over this novel influenza virus because it is a low path avian influenza virus (LPAI) in birds. This means that it does not kill off its avian hosts and is more difficult to detect in domesticated poultry and wild birds. The researchers note that after the closing the live poultry markets in Shanghai on April 5, the number of human cases caused by A(H7N9) virus dramatically decreased in that province. They speculate that A(H7N9) virus may spread silently in poultry in China and eventually spread globally through the migration of wild birds. They include a graphic depicting the geographic relation of humans cases in eastern po...

With less than 60 MERS-CoV cases scattered around the world why is it so difficult for national and international public health agencies to report an accurate account of infected individuals including the number who died. The World Health Organization charged with tracking health issues around the world reports that there have been 54 cases of MERS-CoV infection and 30 deaths. [1] The CDC-USA reports a total of 55 cases and 30 deaths. [2] A tabulation provided by the Virology Down Under blog identifies a total count of 55 cases and 33 deaths. [3] FluTrackers identifies 55 cases but only 26 deaths in its list of cases. [4] And through May 30, 2013, the ECDC reports a total of 49 cases with 27 deaths. [5] This confusion over the number of MERS-CoV cases and how many deaths highlight the needs for one central, official, line list of cases that is publicly available on the internet.   Paramount in this case list is to distinguish between confirmed cases, probable cases, and suspected ...

Yesterday , the media from Italy reported that an additional 10 to 12 individuals were infected with the MERS-CoV, but the individuals were asymptomatic. These individuals reportedly included doctors and nurses. Today, a second round of testing on eight of these individuals produced negative results [1].   Based on the number of confirmed cases to date, MERS-CoV is a deadly disease. The presence or absence of asymptomatic or mild cases of MERS-CoV is an important component in understanding how this disease spreads. Hopefully, the confusion over the number of infected individuals and the MERS-CoV testing results will be cleared up soon by public health officials in Italy. [1] http://firenze.repubblica.it/cronaca/2013/06/04/news/nuova_sars_esami_negativi_resta_soltanto_tre_i_casi-60353834/    h/t Giuseppe

The announcement today of an additional 10-12 asymptomatic MERS cases in Florence, Italy, raises the specter of silent human-to-human transmission.  The map depicts the locations of clusters of confirmed and suspected MERS-CoV cases in Europe and North Africa.

As of yesterday, three confirmed cases of MERS-CoV were reported in Italy.[1] Today, another 10+ asymptomatic cases have been reported by the media in Florence.[2-4] It is difficult to draw a conclusion from these media reports.   Are these individuals actually positive for the MERS-CoV virus? Is this a local coronavirus variant that is spreading from the initial index case in Italy?   Does this indicate that MERS-CoV is actually a wide-spread coronavirus, a coronavirus with less virulence than expected? More questions than answers now until official results are presented. [1] http://www.who.int/csr/don/2013_06_02_ncov/en/index.html [2] http://www.giornalettismo.com/archives/964227/coronavirus-dieci-casi-positivi-di-nuova-sars-in-italia/     h/t tetano [3] http://www.lastampa.it/2013/06/03/italia/cronache/nuova-sars-una-decina-di-pazienti-positivi-ai-controlli-ma-senza-sintomi-urVEjt40bOnIcV5Rn3BBNP/pagina.html h/t Giuseppe [4] http://corrierefiorentino.corri...

The first human infections of a novel coronavirus were identified in late of 2012. The coronavirus was later named hCoV-EMC based on genetic analysis at the Erasmus Medical Center [1].   More recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted the label MERS-CoV for hCoV-EMC [2]. As noted in a previous post,   at least 50+ MERS cases have been reported from eight countries; France, Jordan, Italy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. The nature of the transmission is uncertain, but some of these infections are occurring in hospital settings; several health care workers have been infected.   Four of these clusters, one from France, one from Italy, one from Tunisia, and one from the United Kingdom, occurred outside of the Middle East region. The index cases in all four of these clusters had previously visited countries within the Arabian Peninsula. The index cases of other clusters, as well as other individual isolated ...

More than 50 MERS-CoV cases have been reported from eight countries as of June 2, 2013.  The index cases in the three European countries (France, Italy, and the United Kingdom) and Tunisia all contracted the virus when visiting countries on the Arabian Peninsula. The animal host for this coronavirus most likely originates on the Arabian Peninsula.

This blog will provide personal observations and speculations about current novel infectious diseases. When people contract an infectious disease for which they do not have any natural defense or immunity the disease is called a novel infectious disease.   Generally these infections are zoonoses [1], diseases that are transmitted between animal sources and humans. In the past decade, a number of novel infectious diseases have erupted around the world including SARS, influenza A(H5N1) [ bird flu ], and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus. In the past 12-14 months, two new diseases have jumped to humans from unknown animal sources.    Since April of 2012, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has claimed the lives of at least 30 people and infected more than 20 others in eight different countries including France, Italy, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom [2]. In the past 60-90 days, avian influenza A(H7N...