Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a Betacoronavirus that results in a severe fatal respiratory disease; however, it is also associated with mild inapparent infections. The western part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) contains the holy places where millions of Muslims gathered from all over the world, all year round, with a high probability of mass disease transmission. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of MERS-CoV among military personnel and their families during the period 2014-2019, in the western part of the KSA. A total of 35,203 sputum samples collected from patients with respiratory distress were screened for the presence of MERS-CoV using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction in the examined patients. MERS-CoV infections were detected at a very low percentage in the examined patients. Only 42 of the examined subjects (0.12%) were found positive for MERS-CoV. Most infected cases (32/42) cases were detected in 2014, and the rest of the cases were reported in 2015-2019. The cases with fatal consequences (n = 20) were only detected in 2014. It was concluded that there is a very low prevalence of MERS-CoV infections among the military personnel and their families.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmv.26642 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Mathematical and statistical approaches in epidemiological investigation of hospital infection: A case study of the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in Korea.
PLoS One
January 2025
Department of Mathematics, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Mathematical and statistical methods are invaluable in epidemiological investigations, enhancing our understanding of disease transmission dynamics and informing effective control measures. In this study, we presented a method to estimate transmissibility using patient-level data, with application to the 2015 MERS outbreak at Pyeongtaek St. Mary's Hospital, the Republic of Korea.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA new pathogen pattern of acute respiratory tract infections in primary care after COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-center study in southern China.
BMC Infect Dis
January 2025
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Shenzhen Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Shenzhen People's Hospital, the Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University; the First Affiliated Hospital, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518001, China.
Background: After the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, no studies on bacterial and atypical pathogens were conducted in primary care. We aimed to describe the etiological composition of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) presenting to primary care with limited resources after the pandemic.
Methods: 1958 adult patients with ARTIs from 17 primary care clinics were recruited prospectively from January 2024 to March 2024.
Camel milk is a neglected source of brucellosis among rural Arab communities.
Nat Commun
January 2025
Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, WOAH Collaborating Centre for Risk Analysis and Modelling, Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, The Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, UK.
The World Health Organization describes brucellosis as one of the world's leading zoonotic diseases, with the Middle East a global hotspot. Brucella melitensis is endemic among livestock populations in the region, with zoonotic transmission occurring via consumption of raw milk, amongst other routes. Control is largely via vaccination of small ruminant and cattle populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoronavirus Cryptic Landscape and Draft Genome of a Novel CoV Clade Related to MERS From Bats Circulating in Northeastern Brazil.
J Med Virol
January 2025
Department of Morphology and Genetics, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
We identified seven distinct coronaviruses (CoVs) in bats from Brazil, classified into 229E-related (Alpha-CoV), Nobecovirus, Sarbecovirus, and Merbecovirus (Beta-CoV), including one closely related to MERS-like CoV with 82.8% genome coverage. To accomplish this, we screened 423 oral and rectal swabs from 16 different bat species using molecular assays, RNA sequencing, and evolutionary analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiketopiperazine/piperidine alkaloid as a potential broad-spectrum coronaviral entry inhibitor identified by supercomputer-based virtual screening from a large natural product-based library.
Biomed Pharmacother
January 2025
Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, Mainz 55128, Germany. Electronic address:
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the urgent need for antiviral agents capable of targeting a broad range of coronaviruses, including emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2. While vaccines have been pivotal, the search for drugs that can prevent viral entry into host cells remains crucial, especially against evolving viral forms and other coronaviruses. In this study, we investigated natural products as a source of antiviral agents, focusing on their potential to block the spike protein's receptor-binding domain (RBD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!