Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus: a case-control study of hospitalized patients.

Background: There is a paucity of data regarding the differentiating characteristics of patients with laboratory-confirmed and those negative for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

Methods: This is a hospital-based case-control study comparing MERS-CoV-positive patients (cases) with MERS-CoV-negative controls.

Results: A total of 17 case patients and 82 controls with a mean age of 60.