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 The recent surge in cases, now numbering 32 since the start of
October, has been focused in Riyadh and the western city of Taif,
but it remains far less extensive than an outbreak in April and May
that infected hundreds.
MERS causes coughing, fever and sometimes pneumonia, killing around
40 percent of its victims. The vast majority of confirmed cases
worldwide have been found in Saudi Arabia, where 786 people have
been infected, of whom 334 have died.
Two of the new cases announced by the health ministry were in
medical personnel, adding to concerns about the standard of
infection control procedures in medical facilities. Three different
Taif hospitals have been affected.
Some of the people infected with MERS in Taif this month were being
treated in one renal clinic in a hospital in the city, which
authorities regard as being responsible for some of the
transmissions, a senior Health Ministry official said.
"The secret here of success is not to prevent the cases to be
introduced to the community... the success is to control the
transmission within health facilities," Abdulaziz bin Saeed,
undersecretary for public health told Reuters.
He added that medical personnel may have relaxed their infection
control standards after the kingdom's last outbreak before the
summer ebbed, but that the ministry had intervened to improve
procedures in Taif hospitals.
The six new cases confirmed on Wednesday included three in Taif,
where five others have fallen ill this month, two in Riyadh, where
six others have been diagnosed with MERS since the start of October,
and one in Hafr al-Batin, near Kuwait.
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Cases of MERS have been found in other countries since the virus was
identified in 2012, including in the United States, Europe, the
Middle East and Asia, but most of them were in people who had
recently traveled to Saudi Arabia.
Scientists are not sure of the origin of the virus, but several
studies have linked it to camels and some experts think it is being
passed to humans through close physical contact or through the
consumption of camel meat or camel milk.
The disease can then spread between people, and the largest previous
outbreaks, including one in Jeddah in April and May that infected
hundreds, have been linked to poor infection control procedures in
hospitals.
(Reporting by Angus McDowall; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
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