What is the MERS coronavirus?

The disease known as middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS) It is an infectious disease caused by the virus MERS-CoV.

The acronym MERS-CoV comes from the English name given to the infection by a group of researchers in 2013: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.

Infection by the virus causes severe acute respiratory illness which causes fever, cough -sometimes accompanied by expectoration-, pneumonia, respiratory distress, kidney problems and high mortality, which ranges between 30 and 40%.

in saudi arabia

The first case was detected in Saudi Arabia in September 2012. That same year, the World Health Organization (WHO) decreed a alert between its associated states. Since then, and until 2015, more than 1,100 cases have been diagnosed worldwide.

In April 2014, the WHO confirmed 228 cases of MERS infectionof which 92 were fatal. Saudi Arabia It was then the country most affected by the outbreak, but there were also cases in the rest of the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries.

The countries that have historically been most affected by the disease are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Taste and the United Arab Emiratesalthough cases have also been detected in Tunisia, United Kingdom, France, USA, Holland, Austria, Spain, Germany, Turkey Y South Korea in people who had traveled to a country in the Arabian Peninsula or who had been in contact with them.

camels and bats

Scientists then found that nasal secretions of camels transmit the disease, as well as certain species of bats. The infected people too can transmit the disease.

At the end of 2015, a vaccine emerged that proved effective against the disease. The results of the research showed that the vaccine reduced transmission between animals and from animals to humans.