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MERS in Kuwait...

It's a "MERS-in.." kinda day. 

The World Health Organization todayannounced a fatal case of confirmed MERS-CoV infection diagnosed in Kuwait [1].

Summary of the case details:
  1. The infected person was a 60-year old male
  2. A Syrian national
  3. Hospitalised 13-Feb-2014
  4. Died 6-Mar-2014
  5. Lab confirmed 9-Mar-2014
  6. He had comorbidities
A few things here worth noting I think:
  • There was quite a gap (24-days) between being hospitalised (not sure when the case started showing signs of illness) and having a laboratory confirmation (also 3-days after death)
  • While this is the 3rd case identified within Kuwait, it seems to be the first case that could be nailed down as having been acquired in Kuwait. I tend to try and list my numbers and maps by where the case was acquired rather than where they were diagnosed. Two previous MERS-CoV cases (FluTrackers #158 and #159; includes 1 case with camel contact noted) diagnosed in Kuwait had travelled outside Kuwait blurring the ability to see where they had picked up the virus


References...
  1. WHO Disease Outbreak Notification 20-Mar-2014
    http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_03_20_mers/en/
  2. FluTrackers thread on Kuwait MERS-CoV case #1
  3. FluTackers on Kuwait MERS-CoV case #2




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