novel coronavirus (CDC.gov) |
The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral illness first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It is novel coronavirus (CDC.gov) caused by a coronavirus called MERS-CoV. This virus is similar to the coronovirus that caused SARS. As of 23 May 2014, there have been 635 laboratory confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV including 193 deaths (case fatality rate = 30.4%). However, the mortality rate may be inflated by ascertainment bias (i.e., only sicker patients are being tested for MERS-CoV).
To date, all the cases have been linked to countries in the Arabian Peninsula occurring either in people who have recently returned from the Arabian Peninsula or had contact with an ill person who recently returned from the Arabian Peninsula (Table 1).