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Mers coronavirus outbreaks: WHO offers help

The assistance is to determine transmission chain and risks

The WHO has offered to send international expertise to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to investigate the current outbreaks of Mers-CoV.

The world health body said it was unaware, at this point in time, of the specific types of exposure in the health care facilities that have resulted in transmission of these infections, but said that this remains a concern.

Employees wear masks as they stand outside a hospital’s emergency department in Jeddah. Saudi Arabia has seen the most number of Mers cases this year. — AFP

The assistance is being given in order to determine the transmission chain of the recent clusters and whether there is any evolving risk that may be associated with the current transmissibility pattern of the virus, said the regional World Health Organisation (WHO) office in a statement on Wednesday.

The WHO also expressed concern over the rising number of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (coronavirus) in both the countries in the recent weeks, especially in health facilities.

It asked all countries to remain vigilant and enhance surveillance to detect any early sign that the virus has changed and has attained the possibilities of causing sustained person-to-person transmission.

WHO expects that it is only through an enhanced coordinated effort the mystery and the risk to global health associated with the emergence of this virus can be unraveled, read the statement.

“Approximately 75 per cent of the recently reported cases are secondary cases, meaning that they are considered to have acquired the infection from another case through human-to-human transmission,” Dr Ala Alwan, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean said.

“Majority of these secondary cases have been infected within the healthcare setting and 
are mainly healthcare workers although several patients are also considered to have been infected with MERS-CoV while in hospital for other reasons,” he added.

Although majority of the cases had either none or only minor symptoms, and most do not 
continue to spread the virus, WHO acknowledges that some critical information gaps remain to better understand the transmission of the virus as well as the route of infection, said the statement.

In a statement to Khaleej Times earlier this week, WHO said there were no plans to place any curbs on international travel. Since the emergence of Mers in April 2012, a total of 253 laboratory-confirmed cases of human infections with Mers have been reported to WHO, including 93 deaths. The source and mode of infection for the virus remain undetermined.

Several recent cases of people becoming infected in either Saudi Arabia or UAE and travelling to other countries have also been reported. Greece, Jordan, Malaysia, and the Philippines each reported one such case last week.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com