Comparison of WHO and ECDC MERS case counts
As of October 16, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a total of 877 cases of Middle East respiratory virus syndrome (MERS) from WHO member states (through October 11, 2014 link ). The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), a European disease monitoring organization established in 2005 ( link ), has reported a total of 906 MERS cases from around the world through October 21, 2014 ( link ). Both WHO and ECDC provide updates on the MERS outbreak, however neither these agencies provides a publicly available line list of cases. Because it appears that the next MERS wave has started on the greater Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East, is worth discussing the apparent discrepancy in the number of MERS cases between the WHO and the ECDC. The table below compares the current counts of MERS cases for WHO and the ECDC through specific dates. The differences in the case counts are discussed below by country. WHO and the E...