Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Infectious Disease Division, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 Aug;41(4):568-578. doi: 10.1055/s-0040-1709160. Epub 2020 Apr 18.
Emerging infectious diseases continue to be of a significant importance worldwide with the potential to cause major outbreaks and global pandemics. In 2002, the world had witnessed the appearance of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in China which disappeared abruptly within 6 months. About a decade later, a new and emerging novel coronavirus named the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was described in a patient from Saudi Arabia. These two coronaviruses shared multiple similarities in the epidemiology, clinical presentations, and posed challenges in its prevention and management. Seven years since its discovery, MERS-CoV continues to be a lethal zoonotic pathogen capable of causing severe pneumonia with high case fatality rates and the ability to cause large health care-associated outbreaks.
新发传染病在全球范围内仍然具有重要意义，有可能导致重大疫情和全球大流行。2002 年，中国出现了严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒，该病毒在 6 个月内突然消失。大约十年后，一种新型的新兴冠状病毒——中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）在沙特阿拉伯的一名患者中被描述。这两种冠状病毒在流行病学、临床表现方面有许多相似之处，在预防和管理方面带来了挑战。自发现以来的 7 年里，MERS-CoV 仍然是一种致命的人畜共患病病原体，能够引起严重肺炎，病死率高，并能够引起大规模的医疗保健相关疫情。
