MERS-CoV is a zoonotic respiratory virus. Symptoms include cough, fever that progress to a severe pneumonia causing shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In some cases a diarrhoeal illness has been the first symptom to appear (1) .
For full public health guidelines please see:
Symptoms of cough, fever SOB with a history of travel to an area when MERS-CoV (ie the Middle East) could have been acquired in the last 14 days or close contact to a confirmed case or hospitalised in a healthcare setting in a country or a healthcare worker.
If MERS-CoV is suspected please discuss all cases urgently with Infectious Diseases SPR on call (bleep via switch board).
Please note MERS-CoV is a high consequence infection requiring appropriate PPE so please do not send patients directly to ED without discussion as above.
Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.
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