Researchers will present their findings on Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, a viral respiratory disease, at the International Conference on Emerging and Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.
Here are four facts to note:
1. Researchers found MERS-CoV has a higher mortality rate and affects a specific target population when compared to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. MERS-CoV, however, infects less people than SARS-CoV.
2. A high proportion of males with a median age of 50 years age have MERS-CoV, while the majority of SARS-CoV infected individuals are both males and females.
3. The diseases both are readily transmitted in hospitals. Approximately 21 percent of infections of both SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV occur in hospital workers.
4. More than 8,000 people were infected with SARS-CoV in 2003 and 700 individuals died from the infection. MERS-CoV has spread to 14 countries and has infected 1,300 people.
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