Eurosurveillance
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We investigated a possible person-to-person transmission within a family cluster of two confirmed influenza A(H7N9) patients in Guangzhou, China. The index case, a man in his late twenties, worked in a wet market that was confirmed to be contaminated by the influenza A(H7N9) virus. He developed a consistent fever and severe pneumonia after 4 January 2014. ⋯ These findings strongly suggest that the second case might have acquired the infection via transmission of the virus from the sick father. Fortunately, all 40 close contacts, including the other four family members who also had unprotected and very close contact with the cases, did not acquire influenza A(H7N9) virus infection, indicating that the person-to-person transmissibility of the virus remained limited. Our finding underlines the importance of carefully, thoroughly and punctually following-up close contacts of influenza A(H7N9) cases to allow detection of any secondary cases, as these may constitute an early warning signal of the virus's increasing ability to transmit from person-to-person.
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On 14 April 2014, the first laboratory-confirmed case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection was reported in Malaysia in a man in his mid-fifties, who developed pneumonia with respiratory distress, after returning from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. The case succumbed to his illness three days after admission at a local hospital. The follow-up of 199 close contacts identified through contact tracing and vigilant surveillance did not result in detecting any other confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection.