Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV): evidence and speculations

Abstract

In 2012, a novel human coronavirus emerged and was tentatively named "Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus" (MERS-CoV). The high mortality rate of MERS-CoV focused attention on the ecology of the virus. It has been found that MERS-CoV belongs to the group C lineage of the genus Betacoronavirus. Coronavirus surveillance studies in different populations of bats have suggested that they are probable reservoirs for this novel virus, and phylogenetic analysis of both the spike (S1) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase proteins of MERS-CoV have revealed that it is related to bat viruses. Recently, the MERS-CoV and its neutralizing antibodies were detected in dromedary camels. Despite the limited number of reported cases of person-to-person transmission, the rapid evolution of the virus poses a continuous threat to humans worldwide. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge regarding the virology, clinical spectrum, evolution, diagnosis and treatment of MERS-CoV infections.

Fig. 1

Phylogenetic analysis of the S1 and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of MERS-CoV in comparison to those of selected coronaviruses from the GenBank database. The betacoronavirus strains were selected to be representative of different lineages and were rooted to IBV-M41 Gammacoronavirus. The robustness of individual nodes of the tree was assessed using 1000 bootstrap replicates and bootstrap values 70 % and higher are indicated at key nodes