June 4, 2014

expert reaction to the latest figures on MERS fatalities

Saudi Arabian authorities upped the official number of people confirmed to have been killed by the MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) virus to 282.

Prof Ian Jones, Professor of Virology at the University of Reading, said:

“It is to be welcomed that the Saudi Kingdom is being as open as possible about the cumulative total of MERS cases and their current guidelines. Clearly any backward look will push the total numbers up but that does not signify any change in the virus, only previous under-reporting. Infectious disease does not respect country, cultural or religious boundaries so absolute clarity and the adoption of best practice for isolation and treatment are the most effective means of minimising numbers until such time as the source and route of infection are identified and avoided.”

Dr Jake Dunning, Centre for Respiratory Infection, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, said:

“Saudi Arabia recently stepped-up its response to MERS and this news reflects those co-ordinated efforts. The press release suggests that additional, previously unreported cases have been identified through a retrospective review of possible cases. It’s quite common during outbreak investigations to identify cases that have been “missed”. There isn’t enough detail to say what type of cases were included in the review, whether the identified cases meet accepted case definitions, exactly how they were identified, or why MERS-CoV infection was not initially considered in these cases.

“Although the overall case numbers have increased as a result, it is unlikely that changes in case-finding or case-definitions fully explain the increase in MERS activity that we saw in April and May. Cases of recently-acquired infection continue to be reported, but there does appear to be a downward trend of late. This may reflect greater efforts to prevent primary infection and secondary transmission in affected countries, but it may also reflect the behaviour of MERS-CoV; we still have much to learn about this virus and a lot more research is needed.”

Prof David Heymann, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said:

“The two main messages are that case control studies must be done in order to understand how humans are being infected so that new infections from the virus source can be prevented, and that hospital infection control is necessary to prevent infection of health workers who then become ill and can then go on to infect family members and other patients.”

Declared interests

None declared