Doha
The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) yesterday announced the second case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (Mers-CoV) in Qatar for 2014.
The SCH urged Qatar residents to follow the infection prevention and control measures such as not getting close to camels.
Individuals with weak immune system, or having any long-standing medical condition, have been urged to be cautious whenever they visit farms or camel barns.
“The public who might be visiting a farm or camel barn should comply with the standard personal hygiene and hand washing before and after handling camel while staying away from sick animals,” the SCH statement said.
The second Mers-CoV patient is a 43-year-old Qatari who had fever for few days, and was transported by ambulance to the Emergency Department of Hamad General Hospital. After assessment and laboratory investigations, the patient was diagnosed with pneumonia and confirmed as a Mers-CoV case.
The first Mers-CoV case for the year, a 71-year-old Qatari male with a history of diabetes, was reported early last week. SCH had said the patient became ill while he was on a visit to Saudi Arabia.
He was travelling by road to Al Ahsa city when he became ill and eventually had to be hospitalised. The patient was then transferred to Qatar by an air ambulance and the national protocol of Mers-CoV for quarantine and isolation was activated.
As soon as the Health Protection Rapid Response Team was notified of the second case, a series of investigation and contact tracing steps were implemented. These include verifying whether contacts have any symptoms and specimen collected.
All contacts would be monitored for two weeks. A joint team from Human Health and Animal Resources started the investigation process involving camels and individuals in contact with them for specimen collection and follow-up.
SCH explained yesterday that the first patient diagnosed with Mers-CoV this year is improving and is stable. He is still under the standardised infection prevention and control measures. People with whom he had contact tested negative for Mers-CoV.
SCH alerted all healthcare providers in the country to report any suspected case of Mers-CoV. It also urged healthcare workers to strictly abide by the infection prevention and control measures.
SCH will continue to stress on the importance of epidemiological surveillance, case management and isolation with infection prevention and control, with the enhanced implementation, and health education on preventive measures recommended so far.
