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My response to VDU's blog post: ??An update on the April outbreak of MERS-CoV...??
[Source: Virology Down Under Blog, full page: (LINK). Edited.]
This blog?s author response to VDU's blog post: ??An update on the April outbreak of MERS-CoV...??
??Ian M Mackay said: ??An update on the April outbreak of MERS-CoV...
??We are in week 110 of the MERS-CoV outbreak event, that's 2.12 years and 386 cases including approximately 113 deaths ( PFC of 29.3% , the lowest to date) since the first known cases became ill in Mar of 2012. Just a few quick charts to keep track of things...??
??Giuseppe Michieli (this blog author (A Time's Memory), also Mod. here) replied:
??I have to say only that the situation in the ME could be much more complex that the focus on Jeddha & Riyadh nosocomial outbreaks may suggest. For example, in Lebanon & Jordan there are currently 2 mln of Syrian refugee, in unbearable health and sanitation conditions. I think that sampling even a little number of refugees for MERS could reserve some surprises. Not saying about Syria itself, with health care system in rubbish! There is not a single word about the respiratory & gastrointestinal tracts infections in these regions, despite the polio vaccination drive. A respiratory virus, of zoonotic origin, must have spilled-over among these desperate populations. It must have done this! In Italy we are rescuing thousands migrants per day through Navy patol ships. These migrants are often from Horn of Africa, Syria, Iraq and sub-saharian Africa. Where camels are present too. Migrants are screened for infectious diseases, especially when there are many children and pregnant women. I think would be useful to ask for info from these sources (S Europe Navy health officers, influenza virus reference labs experts...). It seems that data has to be extracted with force from these sources! What would be the assessment if the MERS CoV would be circulating for years unnoticed causing hundreds thousands infections? Because it can not longer accepted the story of a restricted KSA & UAE circulation, not after three years and a probable epizootics in camels in the entire region...??
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This blog?s author response to VDU's blog post: ??An update on the April outbreak of MERS-CoV...??
??Ian M Mackay said: ??An update on the April outbreak of MERS-CoV...
??We are in week 110 of the MERS-CoV outbreak event, that's 2.12 years and 386 cases including approximately 113 deaths ( PFC of 29.3% , the lowest to date) since the first known cases became ill in Mar of 2012. Just a few quick charts to keep track of things...??
??Giuseppe Michieli (this blog author (A Time's Memory), also Mod. here) replied:
??I have to say only that the situation in the ME could be much more complex that the focus on Jeddha & Riyadh nosocomial outbreaks may suggest. For example, in Lebanon & Jordan there are currently 2 mln of Syrian refugee, in unbearable health and sanitation conditions. I think that sampling even a little number of refugees for MERS could reserve some surprises. Not saying about Syria itself, with health care system in rubbish! There is not a single word about the respiratory & gastrointestinal tracts infections in these regions, despite the polio vaccination drive. A respiratory virus, of zoonotic origin, must have spilled-over among these desperate populations. It must have done this! In Italy we are rescuing thousands migrants per day through Navy patol ships. These migrants are often from Horn of Africa, Syria, Iraq and sub-saharian Africa. Where camels are present too. Migrants are screened for infectious diseases, especially when there are many children and pregnant women. I think would be useful to ask for info from these sources (S Europe Navy health officers, influenza virus reference labs experts...). It seems that data has to be extracted with force from these sources! What would be the assessment if the MERS CoV would be circulating for years unnoticed causing hundreds thousands infections? Because it can not longer accepted the story of a restricted KSA & UAE circulation, not after three years and a probable epizootics in camels in the entire region...??
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