The World Health Organization (WHO) has been informed of four additional laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia. Two cases are female health workers from Riyadh who have not reported any symptoms.

The fourth case is a 73-year-old male from Riyadh with underlying chronic diseases who died on Dec. 18, 2013, three days after being hospitalized. He had exposure to animals but no travel history.

Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 170 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 72 deaths.
[link to www.infectioncontroltoday.com]