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A family cluster of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has been reported from Hafar Al-Batin in northern Saudi Arabia. Five these individuals have been reported to World Health Organization (WHO) by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH). There is uncertainty surrounding the family relationships among these infected individuals however Arabic media reports (noted below) allow a tentative construction of the kinship relations among these cases as depicted below. According to the reconstruction, 3 generations in this family have been infected with the disease. Besides this family cluster, the Saudi MOH is reporting four other MERS-CoV cases from Hafar Al-Batin that may be associated with this family cluster. Three of the other four cases as noted below are reported to have had contact with MERS-CoV infected individuals.  Family relationships of this cluster are reported at FluTrackers. link: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=508482...

Influenza A(H7N9) has infected more than 130 people in the People’s Republic of China. It is a severe disease; more than 40 individuals have died. Those individuals that do survive often require long hospital stays including many days in an intensive care unit (ICU). Hospitalization in ICUs is expensive. For example, the first A(H7N9) case from Guangdong Province, spent 20 days in ICU,  with the hospital costs totaling about 220,000 yuan [1]. In China, the average annual wage is 42,000 yuan.[2] Putting the hospitalization cost for A(H7N9) for this patient in perspective, it would take an average individual in China more than five years to pay off this cost providing 100% of the salary went to pay the hospital bill.  This individual is not an isolated case. Based on limited publicly available data, 28 of the individuals infected with A(H7N9) from China who recovered were hospitalized between 6-30+ days, with a median hospital stay of 18 days, although not all of them were treat...

Middle East Respiratory Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is reported to have infected a family cluster of three generations in Hafar Al-Batin in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) (see map below). Hafar Al-Batin is a city in the Eastern Province ( ash-Sharqīyah ) of KSA with a population of almost 400,000 people.[1] Official information from the KSA Ministry of Health is lacking on this cluster, however, scattered Arabic language media reports from the region allow a tentative reconstruction of this cluster of at least 4 cases. Other MERS-CoV cases are reported from Hafar Al-Batin, including a health care worker. Some of these other cases may be associated with this cluster.  Each of the cases in the cluster is described below.  A. 60-70?, F died (within the past few days), newly reported, not confirmed by World Health Organization (WHO). [2]  B. Fahad Al-Sahli, 38, M   died (Aug 17 or 18, 2013), son of Case A.    Confirmed by WHO.   [3]   C. 7 (8?), F rep...