Author Topic: What You Need to Know About MERS (Read 1127 times)

islander · « **on:** July 07, 2015, 09:29:24 PM »

What You Need to Know About MERS

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
JUNE 4, 2015

Tourists Thursday in Myeongdong, a popular shopping area of Seoul. South Korea is experiencing the largest outbreak of MERS to occur outside the Middle East. Credit Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse â€” Getty Images

Q. What is MERS?

A. MERS, which stands for Middle East respiratory syndrome, is a disease first detected in Saudi Arabia in late 2012. Most cases have been in the Middle East; some have been diagnosed elsewhere, including in the United States, in people who traveled there. The current outbreak in South Korea is the largest outside the Middle East.

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islander · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2015, 09:31:15 PM »

Q. What causes it?

A. It is caused by a coronavirus (a virus family named for its â€œcrownâ€ of outer spikes) and is related to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which first appeared in southern China in 2002. SARS infected 8,273 people in 37 countries and killed 775 of them, a mortality rate of nearly 10 percent, before basically disappearing in early 2004. (Although it no longer exists in humans, SARS is not considered permanently eradicated like smallpox or rinderpest, because it circulates in animals and could reappear at any time.)

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islander · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2015, 09:37:13 PM »

Q. How does it kill?

A. Patients usually die from high fevers and pneumonia. The disease appears more likely to kill people with underlying conditions like diabetes, kidney failure and breathing problems. Because MERS is a virus, antibiotics are ineffective, so doctors give oxygen and take other measures to try to keep patients breathing until their own immune systems can defeat the virus. The mortality rate for known cases of MERS exceeds 30 percent, but there may have been many low-grade infections that were never diagnosed, which would lower the mortality rate.

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islander · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2015, 09:38:42 PM »

Q. How do people catch it?

A. The virus is believed to circulate in bats and has been found in Middle Eastern dromedary (one-hump) camels. While it could be caught directly from bats, experts believe most first cases in human outbreaks have come from camels, which are kept in Arabian countries for meat and milk; for racing, hauling and riding; and as pets. The virus may be transmitted from camelsâ€™ nasal secretions or in raw milk. This makes it similar to SARS, which circulates in bats but was also found in some animals eaten in China, such as palm civets and raccoon dogs.

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islander · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2015, 09:39:18 PM »

Q. How does it circulate among humans?

A. Most of the spread appears to be among close family members and within hospitals. Although it can infect through touch, blood or other transmission routes, MERS has never spread easily and widely like flu or measles, and it appears to infect mainly those who breathe in large amounts of virus. In the SARS epidemic, the most dangerous practices were crowding patients close together or putting pneumonia patients on ventilators and nebulizers, which created clouds of infectious particles that entered ventilation systems. Making sure staff members wear breathing protection, such as N-95 masks or hoods with air filters, is essential. They must be monitored as they remove their gear, experts said, to ensure they do not touch infected surfaces.

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islander · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2015, 09:41:25 PM »

Q. Is there a cure or a vaccine?

A. No.

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islander · « **Reply #6 on:** July 07, 2015, 09:42:03 PM »

Q. How can it be stopped?

A. All contacts of all known cases must be found and quarantined. Doctors and nurses who see many patients before realizing they are infected can spread the disease to many others.

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islander · « **Reply #7 on:** July 07, 2015, 09:43:41 PM »

Q. Is there potential for a worldwide pandemic?

A. Public health experts do not fear that outcome unless the virus mutates to be more infectious, but they do fear that there will be a regular pattern of outbreaks like South Koreaâ€™s. They also fear that the virus could spread during the hajj, Muslimsâ€™ annual pilgrimage to Mecca. But that has not happened yet, in part because cases in Saudi Arabia seem to surge in February and recede in the summer, while the hajj has occurred in the fall in recent years. The annual surge may be linked to the camel calving season, which starts as winter ends. Blood tests show that about 80 percent of camels have had the disease at one time.

http://www.nytimes.com/

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Author Topic: What You Need to Know About MERS (Read 1127 times)

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