TY - JOUR AU - Reuss, Annicka AU - Litterst, Annette AU - Drosten, Christian AU - Seilmaier, Michael AU - Böhmer, Merle AU - Graf, Petra AU - Gold, Hermann AU - Wendtner, Clemens-Martin AU - Zanuzdana, Arina AU - Schaade, Lars AU - Haas, Walter AU - Buchholz, Udo T1 - Contact Investigation for Imported Case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Germany T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2014 VL - 20 IS - 4 SP - 620 SN - 1080-6059 AB - On March 19, 2013, a patient from United Arab Emirates who had severe respiratory infection was transferred to a hospital in Germany, 11 days after symptom onset. Infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was suspected on March 21 and confirmed on March 23; the patient, who had contact with an ill camel shortly before symptom onset, died on March 26. A contact investigation was initiated to identify possible person-to-person transmission and assess infection control measures. Of 83 identified contacts, 81 were available for follow-up. Ten contacts experienced mild symptoms, but test results for respiratory and serum samples were negative for MERS-CoV. Serologic testing was done for 53 (75%) of 71 nonsymptomatic contacts; all results were negative. Among contacts, the use of FFP2/FFP3 face masks during aerosol exposure was more frequent after MERS-CoV infection was suspected than before. Infection control measures may have prevented nosocomial transmission of the virus. KW - MERS-CoV KW - Middle East respiratory syndrome KW - MERS KW - CoV KW - coronavirus KW - nCoV KW - coronavirus infections KW - viruses KW - Germany KW - respiratory infections KW - United Arab Emirates DO - 10.3201/eid2004.131375 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/20/4/13-1375_article ER - End of Reference