CIDRAP: Four more MERS cases cited in UAE, 2 in Saudi Arabia.

CIDRAP: Four more MERS cases cited in UAE, 2 in Saudi Arabia.(Crofts).

Via CIDRAP, Robert Roos wraps up a surprising day: Four more MERS cases cited in UAE, 2 in Saudi Arabia. Excerpt:

The six new cases raise the unofficial global count of MERS cases to 90, including 45 deaths. The WHO count, which does not yet include the two new Saudi cases, is 88 cases with 45 deaths. Saudi Arabia's posted tally is now 70 cases and 38 deaths. 

The four UAE cases apparently bring that country's case count to six, which includes an 82-year-old man whose illness was reported last week and a UAE man who was flown to Germany for treatment and died there in March. In addition, a 65-year-old man from France fell ill with MERS in May after traveling in the UAE. 

The eight cases reported in the past 2 days are in keeping with a recent trend noted by the WHO last week: younger patients, less severe illness, and more women. In particular, eight other asymptomatic cases were reported in late June, including four in female healthcare workers and four in children, all in Saudi Arabia. 

The new unofficial tally of 90 cases and 45 deaths represents a case-fatality ratio of 50%—lower than the 56% cited by the WHO in its MERS situation summary on Jul 9. 

In that report, the WHO also observed that cases resulting from person-to-person transmission seem to be milder than those apparently involving transmission from non-human sources. The agency said it was unclear whether that phenomenon was an artifact of surveillance and case-finding efforts or signaled that infections acquired from non-human sources are more virulent.