What You Need to Know about MERS

by Abdou Sani Boukari Consultant

MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome.

The virus, which first surfaced in Saudi Arabia in 2012, has mostly been found in the Middle East. It is a close cousin of the deadly SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus that infected more than 8,000 people worldwide in 2003, killing 774. Unlike SARS, MERS does not appear to spread that easily from person to person.

MERS is an illness caused by a virus called a coronavirus. It is also sometimes referred to as MERS-CoV, for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. It is in the same family as the SARS virus.

Coronaviruses are common globally, the CDC says. Five different types can make people sick. They also infect animals.

Although some coronaviruses cause mild to moderate upper respiratory illness, MERS, like SARS, can cause severe illness and death.

MERS most often spreads between people who are in close contact. Infected patients, for instance, have spread the virus to health care workers.

In addition to Saudi Arabia, five countries have laboratory-confirmed MERS cases, the CDC says. These are:

United Arab Emirates
Qatar
Oman
Jordan
Kuwait.

The virus has been found in camels in Qatar, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. It's also been found in a bat in Saudi Arabia. But officials can't say for sure if camels are the source of the virus. For now, they say that camels, bats, and other animals may play a role in where the virus comes from and how it spreads.

No vaccine is available.