Diseases

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

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Middle east respiratory syndrome is a viral respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus that was first identified in saudi arabia in 2012.

SYMPTOMS

The clinical spectrum of mers-cov infection ranges from no symptoms (asymptomatic) or mild respiratory symptoms to severe acute respiratory disease and death. A typical presentation of mers-cov disease is fever, cough and shortness of breath. Pneumonia is a common finding, but not always present. Gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhoea, have also been reported. Severe illness can cause respiratory failure that requires mechanical ventilation and support in an intensive care unit. The virus appears to cause more severe disease in older people, people with weakened immune systems, and those with chronic diseases such as renal disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, and diabetes.
Approximately 35% of patients with mers have died, but this may be an overestimate of the true mortality rate, as mild cases of mers may be missed by existing surveillance systems and until more is known about the disease, the case fatality rates are counted only amongst the laboratory-confirmed cases.

CAUSES

Symptoms of mers virus infection. A new aggressive pathogen has recently been identified; it's a coronavirus that causes symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath that may become severe or deadly. The disease is termed mers (middle east respiratory syndrome ormers-cov).