Patient being tested for possible case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

As of Monday, the number of people diagnosed with MERS remained at 186, unchanged for the past 43 days, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. He said that the cases were detected out of 844 samples that were tested in the MoH laboratories in all parts of the Kingdom.

A similar joint mission to South Korea in June in the wake of its hospital-linked outbreak identified infection control lapses and complex dynamics, including ED crowding that was amplified by sick patients moving between hospitals. He is listed in stable condition.

On August 18, ADPH confirmed all tests showed up negative and said those contacted during the investigation could stop monitoring themselves.

Overall, patient ages range from 28 to 86. Because of a history of having recently returned from Saudi Arabia, the patient was placed in negative-pressure isolation and a decision was made to perform a respiratory panel of tests.

In fact, Avian Flu Diary reports 55 MERS cases in the Saudi capital during the past 15 days.

All but one of the cases is from Riyadh. Concerns over spreading the virus to other countries have always surfaced during the past Hajj seasons because its early symptoms are not specific. One of them, a 65-year-old man, was a contact of an earlier reported case. Patient ages range from 45 to 99. Nine of them are hospitalized in critical condition, and two are listed as stable.

The only case confirmed over the past few days outside of Riyadh involves a 64-year-old foreign man in the southern city of Najran who works in a health setting, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) said when it announced four cases yesterday.