Open AccessMiddle-East respiratory syndrome coronavirus: Is it worth a world panic?
Author(s) -
Ahmed S. AbdelMoneim
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
world journal of virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2220-3249
DOI - 10.5501/wjv.v4.i3.185
Subject(s) - middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus , case fatality rate , middle east respiratory syndrome , disease , medicine , epidemiology , panic , pandemic , coronavirus , immunology , mortality rate , virology , intensive care medicine , covid-19 , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , anxiety , psychiatry
In 2012 Middle-East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was evolved in the Arabian Peninsula. Tremendous and successful efforts have been conducted to discover the genome structure, epidemiology, clinical signs, pathogenesis, diagnosis and antiviral therapy. Taphozous perforatus bats are the incriminated reservoir host and camels are the currently confirmed animal linker. The virus resulted in less than 1000 infected cases and 355 deaths. The case fatality rate of the MERS-CoV is high, however, many survivors of MERS-CoV infection showed inapparent infections and, in several cases, multiple co-infecting agents did exist. Although MERS-CoV appears to be a dangerous disease, it is argued here that a full assessment of current knowledge about the disease does not suggest that it is a truly scary killer.