Coronavirus – Credit CDC PHIL
Included in this report is a chart showing the date of onset, and outcome of the ten confirmed cases that have been identified since April of 2012.
Not included in this list are 9 patients who were part of a cluster of pneumonia patients at a Jordanian Hospital where two confirmed cases died – for which test results are not available - but whom may have had the same virus.
For now, the source, and mode of transmission of this virus remains a mystery. Genetic analysis of the virus suggests it may have a bat origin (see EID Journal: EMC/2012–related Coronaviruses in Bats), but even if true, an intermediate host cannot be ruled out.
While the large cluster of patients in Jordan suggests that human-to-human or nosocomial transmission of this virus may be possible, we’ve seen no further evidence of secondary transmission in the cases since then.
The ECDC Update is particularly information rich, not just on this latest case, but also on the history of the virus up until now. So it’s well worth following the link to read it in its entirety.
11 Feb 2013
On 11 February 2013, the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) announced that an additional case of the novel coronavirus (NCoV) infection has been confirmed in a UK resident. The patient, a 60 year old male, became ill on 26 January 2013 and was admitted to hospital in England, with a severe lower respiratory tract disease on 31 January.
In the 10 days before his illness onset, the patient had visited both Pakistan (from 16 December 2012 to 20 January 2013) and Saudi Arabia (from 20 to 28 January 2013). After hospital admission, his condition deteriorated and he was transferred for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment on 5 February. He remains severely ill in intensive care.
Laboratory investigations of respiratory specimens from 1 February have confirmed both an influenza A H1N1pdm09 infection and a NCoV infection. Because of the latter, the UK posted an alert through the EU Early Warning and Response System and the International Health Regulations.The HPA is coordinating the response to and further investigation of the potential contacts. Infection control measures have been instituted around the case. Contacts are being followed up and investigated if they develop relevant symptoms following the nationally recommended protocol.
Disease background information
As of 7 December 2012, nine laboratory-confirmed cases of severe pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (NCoV) had been reported to WHO. This s the 10th confirmed case.
Five of the nine cases were fatal. Onset of disease was from April to October 2012; all cases were resident in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Jordan during the preceding days however it cannot at this stage be assumed that the viruses are only to be found in those countries.
The novel virus is distinctly different from the coronavirus which caused the SARS outbreaks in 2003 and genetically related to bat coronaviruses. No animal reservoir or mode of zoonotic transmission has yet been identified for the novel coronavirus though it is noted that similar viruses are known to be endemic in bats in many parts of the world.
The two fatal cases in Jordan were part of a cluster of 11 patients with respiratory symptoms linked to a hospital, but the limited information as yet available does not allow confirmation or refutation of their having been human-to-human transmission either in Jordan or in a family cluster in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
After careful and intensive investigation of those exposed to the infections in the previous two cases in Europe, in the UK and Germany, there were no proven secondary infections.
For additional background on this emerging coronavirus, you may wish to revisit: