Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), full PDF document: (LINK). Edited.]
COMMUNICABLE DISEASE THREATS REPORT
Week 11, 10-16 March 2013
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Novel Coronavirus - Multistate - Severe respiratory syndrome
Opening date: 24 September 2012 Latest update: 14 March 2013
Epidemiological summary
The first described case of novel coronavirus infection was a 60-year-old male resident of Saudi Arabia who died from severe pneumonia complicated by renal failure in Jeddah on 24 June 2012. The previously unknown coronavirus isolated from this case was sequenced and the genome was placed in the public domain.
In September 2012, a second case was reported, a man living in Qatar who was transferred for care in Europe. In November 2012, additional cases with similar symptomatology were diagnosed in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. These included a family cluster of three confirmed and one probable case. Subsequently, two fatal cases were confirmed retrospectively by testing stored samples from a cluster of 11 cases of lower respiratory linked to a hospital in Jordan in April 2012.
In February 2013, a cluster of novel coronavirus cases were reported from the United Kingdom where the index case had travelled to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia ten days before symptom onset. Contact tracing identified two secondary cases among family members without recent travel, one fatal, the other a self-limiting influenza-like illness which did not require hospitalisation.
No other nCoV infections were detected in respiratory samples from 135 contacts followed for ten days.
Three additional sporadic cases have been reported since February, all from Saudi Arabia and all of them fatal. The latest case was notified on 12 March 2013. The patient was a 39-year-old male who developed symptoms on 24 February, was hospitalised on 28 February and died on 2 March 2013 in Saudi Arabia. The case did not have contact with any of the previously confirmed cases.
This brings the number of cases to 15 globally, including nine deaths.
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ECDC assessment
Research on the complete genome sequence of the novel coronavirus (HCoV-EMC/2012) has characterised the virus as a new genotype that is closely related to bat coronaviruses. It is genetically distinct from SARS-CoV. The routes of transmission to humans and the virus reservoir have not been determined. This is a common problem with emerging zoonoses where there is often simultaneous possibilities including environmental, animal and human exposures.
The cluster of three cases in the UK is evidence of limited human-to-human transmission. However, several hundred contacts of the UK cluster and the case treated in Germany have now been actively followed up without evidence of novel coronavirus infection indicating that the risk of transmission remains low.
The two latest cases reported by Saudi Arabia in March 2013 do not change the updated ECDC rapid risk assessment.
Actions
ECDC updated its rapid risk assessment, first published on 7 December 2012. The results of an ECDC coordinated survey on laboratory capacity for testing for the novel coronavirus in Europe were published in EuroSurveillance. On 7 March 2013, the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidance on detecting novel coronavirus (NCoV) infections.
ECDC is closely monitoring the situation in collaboration with WHO and the European Member States. If new sporadic cases of confirmed NCoV infection are reported, ECDC will communicate them through this report.
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COMMUNICABLE DISEASE THREATS REPORT
Week 11, 10-16 March 2013
(?)
Novel Coronavirus - Multistate - Severe respiratory syndrome
Opening date: 24 September 2012 Latest update: 14 March 2013
Epidemiological summary
The first described case of novel coronavirus infection was a 60-year-old male resident of Saudi Arabia who died from severe pneumonia complicated by renal failure in Jeddah on 24 June 2012. The previously unknown coronavirus isolated from this case was sequenced and the genome was placed in the public domain.
In September 2012, a second case was reported, a man living in Qatar who was transferred for care in Europe. In November 2012, additional cases with similar symptomatology were diagnosed in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. These included a family cluster of three confirmed and one probable case. Subsequently, two fatal cases were confirmed retrospectively by testing stored samples from a cluster of 11 cases of lower respiratory linked to a hospital in Jordan in April 2012.
In February 2013, a cluster of novel coronavirus cases were reported from the United Kingdom where the index case had travelled to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia ten days before symptom onset. Contact tracing identified two secondary cases among family members without recent travel, one fatal, the other a self-limiting influenza-like illness which did not require hospitalisation.
No other nCoV infections were detected in respiratory samples from 135 contacts followed for ten days.
Three additional sporadic cases have been reported since February, all from Saudi Arabia and all of them fatal. The latest case was notified on 12 March 2013. The patient was a 39-year-old male who developed symptoms on 24 February, was hospitalised on 28 February and died on 2 March 2013 in Saudi Arabia. The case did not have contact with any of the previously confirmed cases.
This brings the number of cases to 15 globally, including nine deaths.
(?)
ECDC assessment
Research on the complete genome sequence of the novel coronavirus (HCoV-EMC/2012) has characterised the virus as a new genotype that is closely related to bat coronaviruses. It is genetically distinct from SARS-CoV. The routes of transmission to humans and the virus reservoir have not been determined. This is a common problem with emerging zoonoses where there is often simultaneous possibilities including environmental, animal and human exposures.
The cluster of three cases in the UK is evidence of limited human-to-human transmission. However, several hundred contacts of the UK cluster and the case treated in Germany have now been actively followed up without evidence of novel coronavirus infection indicating that the risk of transmission remains low.
The two latest cases reported by Saudi Arabia in March 2013 do not change the updated ECDC rapid risk assessment.
Actions
ECDC updated its rapid risk assessment, first published on 7 December 2012. The results of an ECDC coordinated survey on laboratory capacity for testing for the novel coronavirus in Europe were published in EuroSurveillance. On 7 March 2013, the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidance on detecting novel coronavirus (NCoV) infections.
ECDC is closely monitoring the situation in collaboration with WHO and the European Member States. If new sporadic cases of confirmed NCoV infection are reported, ECDC will communicate them through this report.
(?)
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