Person-to-Person Spread of the MERS Coronavirus — An Evolving Picture

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Approximately 1 year ago, a novel coronavirus, the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), was first identified in the Journal as the causative agent of a lethal pneumonia in several patients in the Middle East.1 As of July 10, 2013, a total of 80 cases have been identified in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates), Europe (United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany), and North Africa (Tunisia), with a case fatality rate of 56%. Since this coronavirus is a close relative of the virus that caused the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a short-lived but . . .