MERS-related coronavirus
Middle East respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus (MERS-CoV),[1] or EMC/2012 (HCoV-EMC/2012), is the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).[2][3] It is a species of coronavirus which infects humans, bats, and camels.[4] The infecting virus is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus which enters its host cell by binding to the DPP4 receptor.[5] The species is a member of the genus Betacoronavirus and subgenus Merbecovirus.[6][4]
This article is about the virus. For the disease, see MERS. For outbreaks, see Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak (disambiguation).Initially called simply novel coronavirus or nCoV, with the provisional names 2012 novel coronavirus (2012-nCoV) and human coronavirus 2012 (HCoV-12 or hCoV-12), it was first reported in June 2012 after genome sequencing of a virus isolated from sputum samples from a person who fell ill in a 2012 outbreak of a new flu-like respiratory illness. By July 2015, MERS-CoV cases had been reported in over 21 countries, in Europe, North America and Asia as well as the Middle East. MERS-CoV is one of several viruses identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a likely cause of a future epidemic. They list it for urgent research and development.[7][8]
Research and patent[edit]
Saudi officials had not given permission for Dr. Zaki, the first isolator of the human strain, to send a sample of the virus to Fouchier and were angered when Fouchier claimed the patent on the full genetic sequence of MERS-CoV.[53]
The editor of The Economist observed, "Concern over security must not slow urgent work. Studying a deadly virus is risky. Not studying it is riskier."[53] Dr. Zaki was fired from his job at the hospital as a result of bypassing the Saudi Ministry of Health in his announcement and sharing his sample and findings.[54][55][56][57]
At their annual meeting of the World Health Assembly in May 2013, WHO chief Margaret Chan declared that intellectual property, or patents on strains of new virus, should not impede nations from protecting their citizens by limiting scientific investigations. Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish raised concerns that scientists who held the patent for MERS-CoV would not allow other scientists to use patented material and were therefore delaying the development of diagnostic tests.[58] Erasmus MC responded that the patent application did not restrict public health research into MERS and MERS-CoV,[59] and that the virus and diagnostic tests were shipped—free of charge—to all that requested such reagents.
Mapping[edit]
There are a number of mapping efforts focused on tracking MERS coronavirus. On 2 May 2014, the Corona Map[60] was launched to track the MERS coronavirus in realtime on the world map. The data is officially reported by WHO or the Ministry of Health of the respective country.[61] HealthMap also tracks case reports with inclusion of news and social media as data sources as part of HealthMap MERS.[62] South Korea was infected in mid-2015, with 38 deaths among 186 cases of infection.