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Review
. 2014 Sep-Oct;12(5):422-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2014.06.007. Epub 2014 Jul 9.

Travel implications of emerging coronaviruses: SARS and MERS-CoV

Affiliations
Review

Travel implications of emerging coronaviruses: SARS and MERS-CoV

Jaffar A Al-Tawfiq et al. Travel Med Infect Dis. 2014 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

The emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and of the Middle East Syndrome Cornavirus (MERS-CoV) caused widespread fear and concern for their potential threat to global health security. There are similarities and differences in the epidemiology and clinical features between these two diseases. The origin of SARS-COV and MERS-CoV is thought to be an animal source with subsequent transmission to humans. The identification of both the intermediate host and the exact route of transmission of MERS-CoV is crucial for the subsequent prevention of the introduction of the virus into the human population. So far MERS-CoV had resulted in a limited travel-associated human cases with no major events related to the Hajj.

Keywords: Hajj: zoonosis; MERS-CoV; SARS-CoV; Travel.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Tome line of MERS-CoV cases in Relation to annual Muslim pilgrimage (Hajj) and mini-Hajj (Umrah) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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