MERS outbreak

Since 2012, an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus has affected several countries, primarily in its namesake, the Middle East. The virus, which causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), is a novel coronavirus that was first identified in a patient from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 6 June 2012.

Sporadic cases, small clusters, and large outbreaks have been reported in 24 countries, with over 2,600 cases of the virus and over 900 deaths, as of 2021.

Most infections with human coronaviruses are mild and associated with common colds. The seven coronaviruses known to infect humans are in the alpha and beta genera. Both MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV (-1 and -2) are betacoronaviruses.

Global surveillance of potential epidemics and preparation has improved since and because of the SARS epidemic, and MERS is being closely monitored.

The Fourth Meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee concerning MERS-CoV was held on 4 December 2013. The committee decided that the conditions for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) had not at present been met.

In November 2012, Egyptian virologist Dr. Ali Mohamed Zaki sent a virus sample from the first confirmed case in Saudi Arabia to virologist Ron Fouchier, a leading coronavirus researcher at the Erasmus Medical Center (EMC) in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The second laboratory-proven case was in London, confirmed by the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA). The HPA named the virus the London1_novel CoV 2012.

On 8 November 2012, in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Zaki and co-authors from the Erasmus Medical Center published more details, including a scientific name, Human Coronavirus-Erasmus Medical Center (HCoV-EMC), which was then used in scientific literature. In the article, they noted four respiratory human coronaviruses (HCoV) known to be endemic: 229E, OC43, NL63, and HKU1.

In May 2013, the Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses adopted the official designation, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). This name was adopted by the World Health Organization to "provide uniformity and facilitate communication about the disease".