Middle East respiratory syndrome

Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a severe viral illness caused by Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a novel coronavirus that emerged in the Middle East in 2012. Since then, MERS-CoV has caused an ongoing epidemic in the Arabian Peninsula with sporadic cases imported in Europe, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and the United States of America. MERS is often a lower respiratory tract disease associated with fever, cough, breathing difficulties, pneumonia that can progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiorgan failure, and death.