Predictors of MERS-CoV infection: A large case control study of patients presenting with ILI at a MERS-CoV referral hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Background: A case control study to better characterize the clinical features, laboratory, and radiological abnormalities associated with MERS-CoV infection in order to help with early identification of this syndrome from other respiratory infections.

Methods: Eighty patients admitted to a hospital in Riyadh, diagnosed with MERS-CoV infection based on RT-PCR were matched on age, sex, and the presence of a co-morbid condition on a basis of 1:2 to other patients admitted with respiratory symptoms and tested negative for MERS-CoV on RT-PCR.

Results: None of the reported MERS-CoV presenting symptoms was significantly associated with being infected with MERS-CoV.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) origin and animal reservoir.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a novel coronavirus discovered in 2012 and is responsible for acute respiratory syndrome in humans. Though not confirmed yet, multiple surveillance and phylogenetic studies suggest a bat origin. The disease is heavily endemic in dromedary camel populations of East Africa and the Middle East.