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Review
. 2019 Apr;14(4):237-246.
doi: 10.2217/fvl-2018-0201. Epub 2019 Apr 18.

Middle East respiratory syndrome: pathogenesis and therapeutic developments

Hani Choudhry  1   1 , Muhammed A Bakhrebah  2   2 , Wesam H Abdulaal  1   1 , Mazin A Zamzami  1   1 , Othman A Baothman  1   1 , Mohammed A Hassan  1   3   1   3 , Mustafa Zeyadi  1   1 , Nawal Helmi  1   1 , Faisal Alzahrani  4   5   4   5 , Ashraf Ali  4   5   6   4   5   6 , Mohammad Khalid Zakaria  7   7 , Mohammad Azhar Kamal  8   8 , Mohiuddin Khan Warsi  7   7 , Firoz Ahmed  7   7 , Mahmood Rasool  9   9 , Mohammad Sarwar Jamal  4   5   4   5
Affiliations
Review

Middle East respiratory syndrome: pathogenesis and therapeutic developments

Hani Choudhry et al. Future Virol. 2019 Apr.

Abstract

The first case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was identified in the year 2012, which spread rapidly and increased to more than 2200 in 2018. This highly pathogenic virus with high mortality rate is among one of the major public health concerns. Saudi Arabia remains to be the most affected region with the majority of MERS-CoV cases, and currently, no effective drugs and vaccines are available for prevention and treatment. A large amount of information is now available regarding the virus, its structure, route of transmission and its pathophysiology. Therefore, this review summarizes the current understanding of MERS-CoV's pathogenesis, treatment options and recent scientific advancements in vaccine and other therapeutic developments, and the major steps taken for MERS prevention control.

Keywords: Arabian Peninsula; MERS; SARS; Saudi Arabia; WHO; coronavirus; global; macrophages; therapeutic; vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Financial & competing interests disclosure This work was supported by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and Deanship of Scientific Research, King Abdulaziz University. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. Medical writing support was provided by Scidra Consulting, INC and was funded by the authors.

Figures

<b>Figure 1.</b>
Figure 1.. Global map of confirmed MERS-CoV infections, 2012–2018.
Figure modified from [15].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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