Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS CoV): case reports from a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia

• DOI: 10.5144/0256-4947.2014.396
• Publication Date: 2017-03-25T10:16:28Z
• Authors: Mohammad Khalid; Basha Khan; Fahad Al Rabiah; Ruwaida Alismaili; Sarfraz Saleemi; Agha Muhammad Reh...; Ihab Weheba; Hail Al Abdely; Magid Halim; Quaid Johar Nadri; Abdullah Mohsin A...; Mohamed Zeitouni; Taimur Butt; Eid Al Mutairy
• Keywords: Male; 0301 basic medicine; Delayed Diagnosis; Adolescent; Interferon alpha-2; Antiviral Agents; Polyethylene Glycols; 03 medical and health sciences; Ribavirin; Humans; Asymptomatic Infections; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; R; Interferon-alpha; Pneumonia; Middle Aged; Recombinant Proteins; 3. Good health; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus; Medicine; Original Article; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Coronavirus Infections; Respiratory Insufficiency

Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome caused by novel coronavirus (MERS CoV) has been a major public health challenge since it was first described in 2012 Saudi Arabia. So far, there is no effective treatment for this serious illness, which features high mortality rate. We report an initial experience of the use ribavirin and interferon (IFN)-a2b management MERS CoV at tertiary care hospital.A case series 6 patients admitted with confirmed diagnosis were treated IFN-a2b addition to supportive management. The patients' demographics, clinical parameters, outcomes recorded. Fifty-four close contacts these screened CoV.Six infection included study. Four cases featured symptomatic disease, including pneumonia failure, while 2 asymptomatic patients. reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction detection consensus viral RNA targets upstream E gene (UPE) open reading frame (ORF1b) on sputum sample. comorbid conditions, time initiation treatment, recorded.Three out who had conditions died during study period, 3 suc.cessful outcomes. delayed average 15 days those died. Only 54 (3.7%) positive CoV.Treatment may be infected CoV. There appears low infectivity rate among