Should You Be Worried About MERS?

 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, is a viral respiratory illness that is relatively new to humans. It was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and is commonly localized to the Arabian Peninsula, however, it has since spread to several other countries, including the United States, France, and most recently South Korea.

 MERS like SARS, is a coronavirus that typically present as a cold and upper respitatory infection  including fever, cough, and shortness of breath. MERS is dangerous because it is more severe then a common cold, and can lead to gastrointestinal symptoms and kidney failure.

 As with all infections, children, seniours, and people with compromised immune systems or pre-existing medical conditions are more likely to contact MERS. Umfortunately, this list includes mostly the type of people found in hospitals, making hospitalization in an area experiencing an outbreak of MERS a huge risk-factor for infection. Other risk factors include direct interaction with an infected person, travel to the Arabian Peninsula or interaction with a camel. Yep, camel.

 Based on information from the US Center for Disease Control, the incubation peroid, or time between exposure to MERS and the appearance of symptoms, is usually about 5 or 6 days, but can be anywhere from 2-14 days. Patient zero in the recent South Korea outbreak was a man who traveled to countries in the Middle East and did not exhibit any symptoms on his return flight to Korea. He became sick a week later.

MERS is not thought to be easily transmitted between humans, that is why the extent of the South Korean outbreak, with three deaths and the number of people in quarantine at 1600 and climbing, is confusing to scientists. Actually, scientists are confused by a lot more than that because we do not actually know how the disease spreads. SARS, its sister disease, is communicated via virus laden droplets from a cough or sneeze but it is possible that MERS is airborne like measles, which can linger in a room for hours.

 To date, there have only been three reported cases of  MERS in the US, but worldwide MERS has a mortality rate of 30% which is pretty scary! But if you are a healthy adult who washes their hands frequently, and actively avoids contact with sick people and camels, you will probably be okay. And just be safe if you are planning any trips to South Korea or the Arabian Peninsula in the near future.

 What scary disease are you most concerned about?