Enhanced MERS coronavirus surveillance of travelers from the Middle East to England.

Helen Lucy Thomas,Husam K Osman,Carlos F.A Carvalho,Alison Bermingham,Richard G Pebody,Carol Sadler,Helen K Green,Nicola L Boddington,Hongxin Zhao,Maria Zambon

doi:10.3201/eid2009.140817

Abstract

During the first year of enhanced MERS coronavirus surveillance in England, 77 persons traveling from the Middle East had acute respiratory illness and were tested for the virus. Infection was confirmed in 2 travelers with acute respiratory distress syndrome and 2 of their contacts. Patients with less severe manifestations tested negative.

Highlights

The first reported case-patient infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) died in June 2012 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was reported on September 20 [1]
In addition to testing the 77 persons who met all of the possible case criteria, MERS-CoV testing was conducted on 13 patients who had severe acute respiratory disease but did not meet the travel requirements: 2 had a travel history outside the Middle East, 4 had no travel history in the relevant exposure period, and travel histories of the remaining 7 were unknown
No case-patients who did not have pulmonary parenchymal involvement tested positive for MERS-CoV, and the positive predictive value of the clinical manifestations increased as the severity of disease increased

Summary

Surveillance of Travelers from the Middle East to England

During the first year of enhanced MERS coronavirus surveillance in England, 77 persons traveling from the Middle East had acute respiratory illness and were tested for the virus. The first reported case-patient infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) died in June 2012 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was reported on September 20 [1]. On September 24, 2012, Public Health England (PHE) (formerly the Health Protection Agency [HPA]) established an enhanced surveillance system to rapidly detect and investigate possible cases of MERS-CoV infection among travelers to England from the Middle East. The Study Enhanced surveillance involved the collection of a minimum dataset for each possible case, including demographic data, clinical symptoms, travel and contact history, and results of testing for respiratory pathogens [6]. During September 24, 2012–October 15, 2013, 77 travelers from the Middle East that met the possible case

United Arab Emirates

Signs and symptoms

Conclusions