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The World Health Organization (WHO) is charged with tracking outbreaks of novel diseases around the world. For novel disease outbreaks such as H5N1, H7N9, SARS, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV),  etc., WHO does report cumulative updates of the counts and locations of cases providing that the member states comply with International Health Regulations (IHR) about timely reporting of cases. However, WHO does not provide a publicly available line list of cases of these novel disease outbreaks.  Such line lists of cases with epidemiological and geographic information help researchers and the general public assess the potential danger of these novel outbreaks.   Through December 2, 2013, more than 170 confirmed and probable human cases of  MERS-CoV have been reported from 11 countries including France, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tunisia,  the  United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Members of FluTrac...

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...