Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a severe respiratory illness that happens from a type of coronavirus called MERS-CoV. Experts first saw MERS in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The illness has similar symptoms to COVID-19, but it’s not as contagious. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 2,519 cases of MERS as of January 2020. While 27 countries have had cases, 80% of the infections are in Saudi Arabia. Researchers believe that 3 or 4 out of every 10 people with MERS have died. But this might not be fully accurate because a lot of mild cases are undiagnosed. MERS may have come from bats and then spread to other animals before it spread to humans. Experts believe that it first spread to camels, who then spread it to people.
In most cases, you’ll have respiratory, or lung-related, symptoms like:
Fever
Cough
Shortness of breath
Other side effects of MERS not related to your lungs include:
c
Nausea
Vomiting
These symptoms will most likely show up within 2 to 14 days after you’re around the virus.
The MERS-CoV virus lives in your respiratory tract, like some other infectious diseases. People spread it to others through coughing. You can also get the infection from camels. In Saudi Arabia and nearby countries, camels have the same strain of MERS as humans. This shows that there’s been transmission between camels to people.
While it’s contagious, MERS doesn’t spread as fast as COVID-19. So far, experts haven’t seen any community-wide spread of MERS. You may have no symptoms with MERS. Or you could notice mild side effects like a cold. Sometimes, people get severe symptoms that could be deadly. In most cases, you’ll have respiratory, or lung-related, symptoms like:
Fever
Cough
Shortness of breath
Other side effects of MERS not related to your lungs include:
Diarrhea
Nausea
Vomiting
These symptoms will most likely show up within 2 to 14 days after you’re around the virus. Anyone can get MERS, but it tends to affect people who live in the Arabian Peninsula or travel to this area. All cases of MERS are linked to living in or traveling to countries in or near the Arabian Peninsula. These include Iran, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. You’re also at a higher risk for the illness if you:
Have been close to a person who’s traveled to the Arabian Peninsula and gotten sick
Have been near someone with a confirmed case of MERS
Were in direct contact with camels, or ate or drank raw camel meat or milk
Are a health care worker and have come in close contact with someone with MERS and didn’t follow all the infection control guidelines
Most people who’ve died from MERS had an existing medical condition that made their immune system weak. In some cases, people didn’t even know they had another condition.
You may be more at risk for severe infection if you have:
Cancer
Diabetes
Chronic lung disease
Chronic heart disease
Chronic kidney disease
What Are the Complications Related to MERS?
With MERS, you can develop other issues too. Sometimes the infection gets worse and leads to pneumonia, respiratory (breathing) failure, or kidney failure. If you have breathing issues, you might need to use a mechanical ventilator.
You’re more likely to develop a severe case of MERS if you have other health conditions that affect your immune system. If you think you have MERS, your doctor will ask you about your medical history. Make sure to tell your medical team if you’ve traveled recently or if you’ve been around any sick people or camels.
After they ask some questions about your symptoms, your doctor will do some lab tests to see if you have an active MERS infection or one from the past.
They might order multiple tests. These might include:
A lower respiratory tract sample. Your doctor will take some fluid from your lungs. You’ll cough up sputum, or phlegm, into a container. Your doctor could also put a thin, flexible tube down your throat and into your lungs. This tube will collect a sample as well.
An upper respiratory tract sample. Your medical team will swab the inside part of your nose or upper throat.
A serum sample. The liquid part of your blood is called serum. Your doctor will get a blood sample and spin it really fast in a centrifuge. This separates the serum from your red and white blood cells and platelets.
But not all laboratories are able to do MERS-CoV tests. If this is the case, your doctor might send your sample to a state health department. They can also send them to the CDC. 
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