Jennifer Yang Interviews Dr. Tony Mounts – WHO Coronavirus Expert

Photo Credit WHO

 

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Jennifer Yang – the Toronto Star’s Global Health Reporter - is in Geneva this week covering the 66th World Health Assembly, under a UN Foundation press fellowship.

 

Today she sat down with Dr. Tony Mounts, WHO's expert on the novel coronavirus, to talk about the ongoing investigation into the MERS-CoV outbreak in Saudi Arabia.

 

Jennifer provides her take on Dr. Margaret Chan’s opening remarks and her interview with Dr. Mounts, in her blog on http://thestar.blogs.com/worlddaily/.

 

Jennifer covers a lot of important ground with Dr. Mounts. Rather than try to excerpt a portion, I’ll simply invite you to follow the link and read Jennifer’s account in its entirety.

 

05/20/2013

In Geneva, a sit-down chat with WHO's coronavirus expert

Jennifer Yang is the Star’s global health reporter. She previously worked as a general assignment reporter and won a NNA in 2011 for her explanatory piece on the Chilean mining disaster. This week she is blogging from Geneva, where she is attending the World Health Assembly under a UN Foundation press fellowship. Follow her on Twitter: @jyangstar

KUNA Report On Tunisian Coronavirus Case

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An English language report from the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that – assuming it is accurate - removes some of the ambiguity from the machine translated reports (see Tunisia Reports Coronavirus Fatality – Ex Gulf States) we’ve been dealing with for the past couple of hours. 

 

We still don’t have any travel or onset dates, but this report does indicate that `two relatives’ tested positive for the coronavirus, and are receiving treatment.

 

 

 

Tunisian dies of coronavirus - ministry

20/05/2013   |   08:59 PM

A Tunisian national who was returning from the Gulf area has died after being infected with the coronavirus, the health ministry said Monday.

 

The 66-year-old diabetic Tunisian was admitted to a hospital in the coastal Monastir city after suffering acute respiratory condition following his return from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, it added, which ultimately caused his death.

 

The relative of the deceased were tested and two of them were infected by coronavirus. They are being treated and their conditions are improving.
The health ministry advised people coming from the Middle East to wear masks, wash their hands and make sure their houses have good ventilations. (end) nm.bs KUNA 202059 May 13NNNN

Tunisia Reports Coronavirus Fatality – Ex Gulf States

 

 

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News this morning trickling out of Tunisia (h/t @HelenBranswell) and already blogged by Crof (see Tunisia: MERS death confirmed (confusingly)) on the first confirmed MERS-CoV case to be reported on the African continent – this time in a traveler who recently visited Qatar and the Gulf States.

 

Despite news reports of a MOH announcement, a quick check of Tunisia’s Ministry of Health website (in Arabic & French) fails to turn up anything on the front page.

 

FluTrackers has a thread of French media reports, some of which suggest that two sons of the deceased may have been infected (and have since recovered) as well.

 

Hopefully we’ll get a clearer explanation - including a timeline showing when this individual traveled to Qatar, and returned, and when he was hospitalized – in the coming hours or days.

Saudi MOH Reports 16th Coronavirus Fatality

 

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A new update from the Saudi MOH that, like many we’ve seen, is long on words and short on useful information.

 

We basically are informed a previously known coronavirus patient has died (making 16 KSA fatalities), while another has recovered and been discharged from the hospitals.

 

No details regarding the two cases are provided, and no new cases are reported.

 

 

Statement Related to the Updates of the Novel Coronavirus

 

20 May 2013

Within the framework of its continuous monitoring and the epidemiological surveillance of Coronavirus, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced the demise of one patient, whom has been previously announced be infected with this virus in Al-Ahsa region, as he was suffering from chronic heart diseases, diabetes and high blood pressure, in addition to kidney failure, May Allah bestow mercy upon him. Thus, the number of mortality due to this virus, up to the date of this statement, reached to 16 cases.

 

MOH has further declared that one of the injured cases, whom has been previously announced be infected among the Health staff with this virus, has recovered and been released from the hospital. It is noteworthy that no new Coronavirus cases, up to the last announcement, has been recorded, Allah be praised.

VDU Adds MERS-CoV Page

Credit Ian Mackay

 

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Professor Ian MacKay, whose insights and graphics on the emerging H7N9 virus have been a huge benefit to Flublogia over the past two months (see VDU’s Avian influenza A (H7N9) webpage), has just launched a page on the MERS-COV (coronavirus).

 

While he warns that information coming out of the Middle East on this virus remains sparse, and his page currently reflects that paucity of data, I’m certain it will fill out as time goes by.

 

I’ll be adding it to my sidebar, along with Ian’s H7N9 and Virology Down Under pages. 

 

And, if you aren’t checking Ian’s Main page on a regular basis, you are missing out on a terrific resource.

H7N9: Guangdong Poultry Sample Tests Positive

Photo Credit FAO 

 

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The hunt for the source of China’s H7N9 outbreak - which has infected more than 130 people, and killed roughly 3 dozen - continues with very few firm answers. 

 

Despite tens of thousands of poultry and environmental samples tests (at live markets and on farms), only a handful have come back positive for this emerging avian virus.

 

Today, news of only their 53rd positive sample, this time from a market in Zengcheng City, Guangdong Province that is reportedly genetically very similar to samples isolated from pigeons six weeks ago in Shanghai, more than 1000 km to its northeast.

 

This report from Xinhua News.

 

 

H7N9 found in poultry sample in S China

 

English.news.cn   2013-05-20 17:59:12

BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) - A poultry sample in south China has tested positive for H7N9 virus, the country's agriculture authority said on Monday.

 

The avian flu virus, which has so far led to the deaths of 36 people nationwide, was detected in a sample of chicken that came from a market in the city of Zengcheng in Guangdong Province.

 

After completing gene sequence analysis, the national avian flu reference laboratory concluded that the strain of H7N9 found in the sample was highly cogeneric with that found in a pigeon sample tested on April 4.

 

The ministry has ordered Guangdong to properly dispose of the sample and increase monitoring efforts.

 

 

Exactly how this avian virus has managed to spread to market birds across 8 provinces in Eastern China remains a mystery, as the Ministry of Agriculture denies finding the virus on any poultry farms. 

 

Today’s announced discovery, just 120 km from Hong Kong, will no doubt heighten concerns that this virus could eventually encroach into their region.  

 

Making the discovery of just how this virus is stealthily moving across China’s landscape an urgent priority.