Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)

Ali ElRida ElMasriAarushi Sharma

What is MERS?

• SARS-like• Coronavirus family• 24th September 2012• 6th new type of

coronavirus• Tropism for non-ciliated

bronchial ep.

Etiology

• Origin is debated• England/Qatar/2012• 1 or more zoonotic event?• Mutation of existing virus?• Unnoticed for 1 year• Arabic peninsula

Transmission

• Person to person- low• WHO says MERS-CoV “threat”• Natural reservoir: Bats• Antibodies in camels

Symptoms

• Fever• Cough• Shortness of breath• Renal Failure• Severe acute pneumonia• Incubation period: 12 days

Statistics

France Italy Jordan Qatar Saudi Arabia Tunisia UAE UK Total0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

This bar chart shows the number of cases/deaths per country

CasesDeaths

Num

ber o

f Cas

es/D

eath

s

Diagnosis and Prevention

• RT-PCR• Vaccines are

undergoing clinical trials

• Novavax, Greffex• Standard Precautions

Treatment

• Acute Respiratory Support in hospital• Drugs for other Coronavirus strains

References• http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/photos.html• http://www.who.int/csr/disease/coronavirus_infections/

IPCnCoVguidance_06May13.pdf• http://www.who.int/csr/disease/coronavirus_infections/en/• http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/may/13/new-

coronavirus-mers-cov• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23782161• http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/

steps-authentic-happiness-positive-psychology/2013/may/30/coronavirus-severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-dang/