MERS-CoV: Understanding the latest human coronavirus threat
Abstract
Human coronaviruses cause both upper and lower respiratory tract infections in humans.
In 2012, a sixth human coronavirus (hCoV) was isolated from a patient presenting with severe
respiratory illness. The 60-year-old man died as a result of renal and respiratory failure after admission
to a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The aetiological agent was eventually identified as a coronavirus
and designated Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). MERS-CoV has now
been reported in more than 27 countries across the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and Asia.
As of July 2017, 2040 MERS-CoV laboratory confirmed cases, resulting in 712 deaths, were reported
globally, with a majority of these cases from the Arabian Peninsula. This review summarises the
current understanding of MERS-CoV, with special reference to the (i) genome structure; (ii) clinical
features; (iii) diagnosis of infection; and (iv) treatment and vaccine development.