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Volume 22, Number 9—September 2016
Research

Feasibility of Using Convalescent Plasma Immunotherapy for MERS-CoV Infection, Saudi Arabia

Yaseen M. ArabiComments to Author , Ali H. Hajeer, Thomas Luke, Kanakatte Raviprakash, Hanan Balkhy, Sameera Johani, Abdulaziz Al-Dawood, Saad Al-Qahtani, Awad Al-Omari, Fahad Al-Hameed, Frederick G. Hayden1, Robert Fowler, Abderrezak Bouchama, Nahoko Shindo, Khalid Al-Khairy, Gail Carson, Yusri Taha, Musharaf Sadat, and Mashail Alahmadi
Author affiliations: King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Y.M. Arabi, A.H. Hajeer , H. Balkhy, S. Johani, A. Al-Dawood, S. Al-Qahtani, A. Bouchama, K. Al-Khairy, M. Sadat, M. Alahmadi); Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA (T. Luke, K. Raviprakash); Alfaisal University, Riyadh (A. Al-Omari); King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (F. Al-Hameed); University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA (F.G. Hayden); University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (R. Fowler); World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland (N. Shindo); University of Oxford Centre for Tropical Medicine, Oxford, UK (G. Carson); King Abdulaziz Medical City, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia (Y. Taha)

Main Article

Table 1

Characteristics of participants in a study for the feasibility of collecting convalescent plasma from persons who had been infected with or exposed to MERS-CoV, Saudi Arabia, July–October 2015*

Characteristic
Value
Healthcare workers exposed to laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV patients, N = 230
Median age, y (Q1, Q3) 35 (29, 42)
Sex
M 34 (14.8)
F 196 (85.2)
Work-associated exposure
Intubation 52 (22.6)
Bronchoscopy 22 (9.6)
Tracheal suctioning or inhalation therapy 72 (31.3)
Patient care 117 (50.9)
Reported total duration of exposure†
<24 h 66/199 (33.2)
>24 h 133/199 (66.8)
Reported exposure intensity‡
Mild 108/200 (54.0)
Moderate 60/200 (30.0)
Severe 31/200 (15.5)
Laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection 11 (4.8)
ELISA-reactive serum sample 4 (1.7)
Median time from exposure to testing positive, d (Q1, Q3)
381 (246, 485)
Patients with suspected or laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection, N = 196
Median age, y (Q1, Q3) 65 (49, 76)
Sex
M 97 (49.5)
F 99 (50.5)
Hospitalization admission area
Intensive care unit 11 (5.8)
Emergency room 183 (88.8)
Ward 2 (0.97)
Laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection 5 (2.6)
ELISA-reactive serum sample 8 (4.1)
Median time to testing positive, d (Q1, Q3)
7 (4, 12)
Household contacts of confirmed MERS-CoV patients, N = 17
Median age (range), y 37 (26, 46)
Sex
M 6 (35.3)
F 11 (64.7)
Laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection 0
ELISA-reactive serum sample 0
Median time to antibody testing, d (Q1, Q3) 34 (34, 34)

*Unless otherwise specified, data are no. (%). Q1 and Q3, quartiles 1 and 3, respectively; MERS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus.
†Data from a self-administered survey question answered by 199 healthcare workers.
‡Data from a self-administered survey question answered by 200 healthcare workers.

Main Article

1This author is a member of ISARIC (the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium).

Page created: August 16, 2016
Page updated: August 16, 2016
Page reviewed: August 16, 2016
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