Healthcare Acronyms

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

A viral respiratory illness, first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, which is caused by a coronavirus called MERS-CoV. Most people who have been confirmed to have MERS-CoV infection developed severe acute respiratory illness with fever, cough, and shortness of breath. About 30% of these people died. The first US case of MERS was confirmed in a traveler from Saudi Arabia to the US on May 2, 2014.