Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
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.

PubMed Disclaimer

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

References

    1. Zhou J, Li C, Zhao G, et al. Human intestinal tract serves as an alternative infection route for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Sci. Adv. 2017;3(11):eaao4966. - PMC - PubMed

    2. • Direct intragastric inoculation of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) caused a lethal infection in human dipeptidyl peptidase 4 transgenic mice.

    1. Cui J, Li F, Shi ZL. Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 2019;17(3):181–192. - PMC - PubMed

    2. • Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and MERS-CoV are two highly transmissible and pathogenic viruses that emerged in humans at the beginning of the 21st century.

    1. Zaki AM, Van Boheemen S, Bestebroer TM, et al. Isolation of a novel coronavirus from a man with pneumonia in Saudi Arabia. N. Engl. J. Med. 2012;367(9):1814–1820. - PubMed
    1. Al-Abdallat MM, Payne DC, Alqasrawi S, et al. Hospital-associated outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus: a serologic, epidemiologic, and clinical description. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2014;59(9):1225–1233. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shapiro M, London B, Nigri D, et al. Middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus: review of the current situation in the world. Disaster Mil. Med. 2016;2:9. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources