No immediate cause for concern, epidemiologist tells DTE as MERS case detected in UAE

Subject: Science and technology

Section: Health

Context:

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a man had been infected with the deadly Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Al Ain is a city in the emirate of Abu Dhabi on UAE’s border with Oman.
The man had no record of contact with dromedary camels, which spread the disease.

About MERS-CoV:

MERS-CoV is a viral respiratory disease belongs to the same family as the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
MERS was first detected in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. But since then, it has been regularly reported from multiple countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
In total, 27 countries have reported cases since 2012, leading to 858 known deaths due to the infection and related complications.
MERS-CoV is also considered to be a coronavirus with a high mortality rate.
One in every three of officially reported cases have died. But the fact is that this is an overestimate of mortality because many of the subclinical cases are not documented.
Transmission:
- MERS is a zoonotic disease. A person gets infected on coming in contact with dromedary camels. But cases of human-to-human transmission have been reported in the past.
- The dromedary is not the only reservoir of MERS-CoV.
- It is found in bats, cattle, sheep and goats as well.
- Even more importantly, some of the largest number of cases during the 2012 MERS outbreak were reported from South Korea which does not have a native camel population.
Symptoms:
- The main symptoms of MERS are fever, coughing and shortness of breath, and in some cases, pneumonia.