Question

An Introduction to MERS- The new deadly disease of middle east

Answer 1

MERS stands for 'Middle East Respiratory Syndrome', as the name suggests the disease has strong association with middle east countries like UAE, Oman etc. Almost each of the patients identified till date has traveled to or from the region or were in close contact to the people who did travel to or from the region.



In terms of medical lingo, MERS is a severe \(\bf Pneumonia-like\) respiratory disease caused by a virus named \(\bf Corona~Virus.\)

\(Pneumonia\) `is a general term for inflammation of air sacs or alveoli of lungs caused by infectious or chemical source.` In addition to the inflammation, lungs also get filled with fluids which then interferes the lungs capability to transfer oxygen to blood. This often results to fatigue and nausea as symptom. `It should be noted that SARS is also a pneumonia like disease caused by corona virus but both he disease are distinctive as both are caused by different subtypes of the same corona virus.`

Answer 2

\(\sf About~MERS~Corona~Virus\)

There are apparantly several strains of Corona Virus, some of these cause the common cold while others cause diseases like SARS and recently MERS. Strains of corona virus associated with MERS is commonly called as MERS-CoV. This strian was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It can spread to everyone, from a neonate to people as old as 99. How MERS spreads is not completely understood, but experts believe that the main way it spreads is through close contact with an infected person.

Answer 3

\(\sf Symptoms\)
\(\bullet\) Cough, shortness of breath, fatigue
\(\bullet\) High fever
\(\bullet \) Kidney failure has also been reported in some cases.


\(\huge \bigstar\) Currently there is no direct treatment or vaccine for the disease and medical care includes symptomatic treatments to provide relief only.

Answer 4

Interesting :O Good Job Dr.Abhisar :O

Answer 5

@Abhisar The North Koreans have the cure. ;)

Answer 6

Great Job.. Abhi :-)

Answer 7

It would be interesting to see how are these strains differ in their structures and perhaps in their genetical analysis.

Answer 8

Great job! Very interesting to know :)

Answer 9

We don't have this in Dubai.

Answer 10

\(\bf Upate:\)
In the study of animal models, the researchers found that two antibodies, REGN3051 and REGN3048, showed an ability to neutralize the virus. But it's efficacy in humans have yet to be established.

Answer 11

blue star = excellent..

Answer 12

whats the difference between SARS-CoV and virion of MERS ,structurally/genetically?symptoms of both diseases r quite similar

Answer 13

(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ you got dude (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

Answer 14

@asmagul One of the known structural difference between the virion of SARS and MERS is that mers is of a different type known as Lieage 2C while for SARS it's Lineage 2B. Also there are a very few more differences like rapid progression to respiratory failure in 5 days compared to 10 days in SARS (bt diff is negligible). Some findings also say that women were more affected in SARS bt in the case of MERS men were found to be more affected.

Answer 15

Anyways very useful info Bro..:) @Abhisar

Answer 16

true smigel