Probably heard this news form one of the repatuted news paper and certain blogs etc.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS - CoV) killing more
than 40 people across the globe, especially in Saudi Arabia, and the
threat of the swine flu-like virus spreading in the air looming large,
doctors in the city have sounded alarm bells for those returning from
Gulf countries.
What is a MERS-CoV?
Coronavirus taxonomy
|
|
| Order: | Nidovirales |
| Family: | Coronaviridae |
| Genera: | Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Deltacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus |
| Genome: | (+)ssRNA, ~30kb (20-33kb) |
| Genes: | 1a, 1b, S, E, M, N, Assrtd ORFs |
MERS-CoV belongs to family of Corona Virus. Which predominantly present in Middle East Asian Countries most of the reports from Saudi Arabia. There is no yet detailed info about this virus work is going on.
Where is it emerged?
Probably case Studies says it is emerged from middle east.
Virus was first characterized in 2012 by Prof Ali Mohamed Zaki. That virus
came from a 60-year old male with suspected viral pneumonia. Prof. Zaki
ran the usual respiratory viral tests which were negative so he sent a
sample to virus hunters at Erasmus Medical Centre in The Netherlands. In
the interim a broad-spectrum "pan-coronavirus" RT-PCR method and
returned a positive result. The first MERS disease outbreak occurred
earlier, in Jordan.
Most cases are in males older than 45-years and underlying medical
conditions feature prominently in MERS-CoV confirmed. Disease in
children seems to be milder. No deaths, and few cases have occurred
among those under the age of 21-years.
What are the symptoms?
Most people who have been confirmed to have MERS-CoV infection developed
severe acute respiratory illness. They had fever, cough, and shortness
of breath. About half of these people died.
Caution:This virus has spread from ill people to others through close contact. However, the virus has not shown to spread in a sustained way in communities. The situation is still evolving.
For Details: http://www.who.int/csr/don/2013_07_13/en/index.html
References: http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/
http://www.uq.edu.au/vdu/VDUMERSCoronavirus.htm
