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Commentary
Beta2c
Coronavirus Cluster In Al-Ahsa Hospital Grows
Recombinomics
Commentary 14:00
May 6, 2013
Case 12: 71M Onset [15 Apr 2013], deceased [3 May 2013]
Case 13: 58F Onset [1 May 2013] ventilated in critical but stable.
The above comments are from a ProMED update contributed by Ziad A Memish, Deputy KSA MoH. The cases increase the number of confirmed cases at the Al Ahsa Hospital in Al Hofuf, Saudi Arabia to 13 (see map) All have co-morbidities and are linked to the same hospital, leading to comments on nosocomial transmission and the absence of community cases.
However, media reports have raised concerns that the cases treated at the hospital involve cases infected by the novel beta2c coronavirus, as indicted by fatal infection in two children (11 and 10 year olds, who had SARS-like symptoms and died shortly after admission (see detail in individual markers on map).
Additional cases are also suggested by media reports that describe a family of three which include the death of the father and the hospitalization of his two sons. The prior ProMED report listed the first 10 cases which included a familial cluster of two, which appears to represent part (56M and 33M) of the three patient cluster. The latest report does not cite the third family member and raises concerns that the third case is not reported. The disease onset date between the confirmed cluster is at least 6 days, suggesting the father infected his son (which may have been at the hospital).
More detail on the patients cited in media reports, as well as a list of symptomatic cases and more detail on co-morbidities would be useful.
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