Volume 20, Number 9—September 2014
Dispatch
Enhanced MERS Coronavirus Surveillance of Travelers from the Middle East to England
Helen Lucy Thomas, Hongxin Zhao, Helen K. Green, Nicola L. Boddington, Carlos F.A. Carvalho, Husam K. Osman, Carol Sadler, Maria Zambon, Alison Bermingham, and Richard G. Pebody
Table 1
Results of MERS coronavirus testing of 77 travelers from the Middle East to England by key clinical and epidemiologic characteristics where information available, September 2012–October 2013
| Characteristics | No. tested | No. (%) MERS coronavirus–positive |
|---|---|---|
| Age group, y | ||
| 0–4 | 5 | 0 |
| 5–17 | 1 | 0 |
| 18–44 | 10 | 0 |
| 45–64 | 34 | 2 (6) |
| ≥65 | 25 | 0 |
| Unknown | 2 | 0 |
| Sex | ||
| M | 49 | 2 (4) |
| F | 26 | 0 |
| Unknown | 2 | 0 |
| Clinical history | ||
| Fever | 51 | 2 (4) |
| Cough | 51 | 2 (4) |
| Pulmonary parenchymal involvement | 34 | 2 (6) |
| Acute respiratory distress syndrome | 7 | 2 (29) |
| Mechanical ventilation | 15 | 2 (13) |
| Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation | 2 | 2 (100) |
| Travel history in exposure period* before symptom onset† | ||
| Israel | 1 | 0 |
| Jordan | 1 | 0 |
| Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | 40 | 1 (3) |
| Qatar | 7 | 1 (14) |
| United Arab Emirates | 27 | 0 |
| Yemen | 1 | 0 |
*Exposure period was 10 days until June 2013, when it was increased to 14 days.
†Some patients had also traveled to countries outside the Middle East.
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