Hospital Outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 369; no. 5; pp. 407 - 416
• Main Authors: Assiri, Abdullah, McGeer, Allison, Perl, Trish M, Price, Connie S, Al Rabeeah, Abdullah A, Cummings, Derek A.T, Alabdullatif, Zaki N, Assad, Maher, Almulhim, Abdulmohsen, Makhdoom, Hatem, Madani, Hossam, Alhakeem, Rafat, Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A, Cotten, Matthew, Watson, Simon J, Kellam, Paul, Zumla, Alimuddin I, Memish, Ziad A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Waltham, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 01.08.2013
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Coronaviridae; Coronavirus - genetics; Coronavirus - isolation & purification; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - transmission; Coronavirus Infections - virology; Coronaviruses; Cough; Cross Infection - epidemiology; Cross Infection - transmission; Cross Infection - virology; Disease Outbreaks; Disease transmission; Disease Transmission, Infectious; DNA, Viral - analysis; Female; Fever; General aspects; Hemodialysis; Hospitals; Human infectious diseases. Experimental studies and models; Humans; Infections; Infectious Disease Incubation Period; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional; Infectious diseases; Intensive Care Units; Male; Medical personnel; Medical records; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Morbidity; Mortality; Outbreaks; Phylogeny; Pneumonia; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - transmission; Pneumonia, Viral - virology; Public health; Radiography; Renal Dialysis; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Saudi Arabia - epidemiology; Asia; Middle east; Saudi Arabia; Middle East; Virus; Medicine; Respiratory tract; Nosocomial infection; Coronavirus; Coronaviridae; Respiratory system; Nidovirales; Syndrome

A novel coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is causing severe disease in the Middle East. In this report on a hospital outbreak of MERS-CoV infection, 23 confirmed cases and evidence of person-to-person transmission were identified. The median incubation period was 5.2 days. Respiratory viruses are an emerging t...