Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2015/03/news-scan-mar-10-2015
News Scan for Mar 10, 2015
MERS deaths in Saudi Arabia; MRSA: Unwanted houseguest
Filed Under:
MERS-CoV; MRSA
[h=3]Saudi Arabia reports fatal MERS cases as more experts respond[/h] A 72-year-old Saudi woman has died of MERS-CoV in Buraydah, and a previously reported MERS patient has also died, the country's Ministry of Health (MOH) said today as a top official noted more international help with the outbreak.
The woman in Buraydah had preexisting disease and no recent contact with animals or other MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases in the community. Possible exposure to MERS patients in the healthcare setting, however, is under investigation. She was not a healthcare worker.
The previously reported MERS-CoV patient who died was a 74-year-old man from Riyadh. He likewise had preexisting disease and was not a healthcare worker.
The country has now confirmed 946 MERS cases, including 410 deaths, the MOH reported. Twenty-four patients are recovering or in home isolation. The agency has now confirmed 24 cases so far in March, compared with 75 MERS-CoV cases in all of February.
Mar 10 MOH update
In related news, Saudi Arabia will soon have as many as 33 international and Saudi consultants to assist with its MERS outbreak, Abdulaziz Abdullah Bin Saeed, PhD, MOH undersecretary and chair of the disease Command and Control Center, said in a Saudi Gazette story today.
He said 9 experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will join 24 other consultants on a joint venture with the MOH and King Saud University in Riyadh. "The experts will run investigations and conduct research concerning the coronavirus," Saeed said.
Mar 10 Saudi Gazette story
[h=3]Study indicates MRSA may linger in homes for years[/h] Some folks wonder whether grown children will ever leave the nest. But once methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) enters a home, it can linger and spread for years, evolving genetically to become unique to that household and serving as a disease reservoir, according to a study today in mBio.
US researchers performed whole-genome sequencing of 146 USA300 MRSA isolates, which is the nation's predominant community-transmitted MRSA form and is highly virulent and transmissible. The isolates were obtained from Chicago and Los Angeles households that had an index case involving an S aureus skin or soft-tissue infection.
They evaluated the samples to understand transmission dynamics, genetic relatedness, and microevolution of USA300 MRSA within households and compared these MRSA samples with previously published genome sequences of 35 USA300 MRSA isolates from San Diego and 277 USA300 MRSA isolates from New York City.
The investigators found that household isolates clustered into closely related groups, suggesting a single common USA300 ancestral strain in each household. They also determined that USA300 MRSA had persisted within the households for 2.3 to 8.3 years before samples were collected.
They also found that a large proportion of the USA300 isolates were resistant to fluoroquinolone antibiotics, in addition to having the typical resistance to beta-lactams.
"We found that USA300 MRSA strains within households were more similar to each other than those from different households. Our findings strongly suggest that unique USA300 MRSA isolates are transmitted within households that contain an individual with a skin infection," said senior author Michael Z. David, MD, PhD, of the University of Chicago, in a press release from the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), which publishes mBio.
Mar 10 mBio study
Mar 10 ASM press release
News Scan for Mar 10, 2015
MERS deaths in Saudi Arabia; MRSA: Unwanted houseguest
Filed Under:
MERS-CoV; MRSA
[h=3]Saudi Arabia reports fatal MERS cases as more experts respond[/h] A 72-year-old Saudi woman has died of MERS-CoV in Buraydah, and a previously reported MERS patient has also died, the country's Ministry of Health (MOH) said today as a top official noted more international help with the outbreak.
The woman in Buraydah had preexisting disease and no recent contact with animals or other MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases in the community. Possible exposure to MERS patients in the healthcare setting, however, is under investigation. She was not a healthcare worker.
The previously reported MERS-CoV patient who died was a 74-year-old man from Riyadh. He likewise had preexisting disease and was not a healthcare worker.
The country has now confirmed 946 MERS cases, including 410 deaths, the MOH reported. Twenty-four patients are recovering or in home isolation. The agency has now confirmed 24 cases so far in March, compared with 75 MERS-CoV cases in all of February.
Mar 10 MOH update
In related news, Saudi Arabia will soon have as many as 33 international and Saudi consultants to assist with its MERS outbreak, Abdulaziz Abdullah Bin Saeed, PhD, MOH undersecretary and chair of the disease Command and Control Center, said in a Saudi Gazette story today.
He said 9 experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will join 24 other consultants on a joint venture with the MOH and King Saud University in Riyadh. "The experts will run investigations and conduct research concerning the coronavirus," Saeed said.
Mar 10 Saudi Gazette story
[h=3]Study indicates MRSA may linger in homes for years[/h] Some folks wonder whether grown children will ever leave the nest. But once methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) enters a home, it can linger and spread for years, evolving genetically to become unique to that household and serving as a disease reservoir, according to a study today in mBio.
US researchers performed whole-genome sequencing of 146 USA300 MRSA isolates, which is the nation's predominant community-transmitted MRSA form and is highly virulent and transmissible. The isolates were obtained from Chicago and Los Angeles households that had an index case involving an S aureus skin or soft-tissue infection.
They evaluated the samples to understand transmission dynamics, genetic relatedness, and microevolution of USA300 MRSA within households and compared these MRSA samples with previously published genome sequences of 35 USA300 MRSA isolates from San Diego and 277 USA300 MRSA isolates from New York City.
The investigators found that household isolates clustered into closely related groups, suggesting a single common USA300 ancestral strain in each household. They also determined that USA300 MRSA had persisted within the households for 2.3 to 8.3 years before samples were collected.
They also found that a large proportion of the USA300 isolates were resistant to fluoroquinolone antibiotics, in addition to having the typical resistance to beta-lactams.
"We found that USA300 MRSA strains within households were more similar to each other than those from different households. Our findings strongly suggest that unique USA300 MRSA isolates are transmitted within households that contain an individual with a skin infection," said senior author Michael Z. David, MD, PhD, of the University of Chicago, in a press release from the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), which publishes mBio.
Mar 10 mBio study
Mar 10 ASM press release