MERS

Definition:

Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus (the same family of viruses that causes the common cold) — called MERS-CoV. MERS-CoV primarily causes fever, cough and shortness of breath. Other symptoms may include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Pneumonia is common, and sometimes it may cause injury to organs, such as the kidneys.

History:

During the summer of 2012, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a hitherto unknown coronavirus (CoV) was isolated from the sputum of a patient with acute pneumonia and renal failure. The isolate was provisionally called human coronavirus Erasmus Medical Center (EMC). Shortly thereafter, in September 2012, the same type of virus, named human coronavirus England 1, was recovered from a patient with severe respiratory illness who had been transferred from the Gulf region of the Middle East to London, United Kingdom. The onset of the new disease was traced back to an even earlier time point. Already in April 2012, a cluster of pneumonia cases in health care workers had occurred in an intensive care unit of a hospital in Zarqa, Jordan . Two persons died, both of whom were confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus through a retrospective analysis of stored samples.

Phylogeny:

Phylogenetic relationships among members of the subfamily Coronavirinae and taxonomic position of MERS-CoV.

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