Comprehensive Study on MERS

Remember the disease that struck the Republic of Korea [ROK] in 2015? Due to this

disease, people living in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and America had to live under great

anxiety. Since this dreadful disease has been found, “about 3 or 4 out of every 10 patients

reported with it have died” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019a, para.

1). This lethality rate is quite high, comparing to other common diseases we have known.

This disease is Middle East Respiratory Disease, which is customarily called MERS. Some

might get confused with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [SARS] due to a similar name.

In fact, MERS stands comparison with SARS in terms of severity and effect on our society.

The impact of MERS was substantial and is still residing with us. Thus, it is instrumental to

clearly understand the symptoms of MERS, prevention for MERS, and the effects of MERS

on societies.

Before encountering the specific effects and symptoms of MERS, a thorough review

of the background of MERS would be helpful for a comprehensive understanding of MERS.

First of all, the background of the disease’s name should be clarified. MERS suggestively

points out that the syndrome is somehow related to the region Middle East. In effect,

according to the journal of US National Library of Medicine, the first infected patient of

MERS was reported in a Saudi Arabian hospital in 2012 (Zumla, Hui, & Perlman, 2015, p.

995). Then, what was the cause—virus—that made this patient sick? It was MERS-CoV,

which is coronavirus spread through the respiratory system (CDC, 2019a, para. 3). Based on

the Factsheet of World Health Organization [WHO], the MERS-CoV is a “zoonotic virus”,

and “it may have originated in bats and was transmitted to camels” (2019, para. 3-4). In other

words, the bats are the original source of this coronavirus; camels are the main host of

MERS. According to WHO (2019), MERS can be spread through both non-human and

human, but the human-to-human transmission is not easily occurred (para. 5-6).
 Not only learning about the background information of MERS is important, but

perceiving whether one is infected by this deadly virus is also imperative. Then, how can we

detect the signs of MERS? There are some significant symptoms related to MERS. As shown

from the name, Middle East Respiratory Disease causes respiratory illness ranging from mere

coughing to pneumonia. According to Davis of medicinenet (2017), even though early

symptoms of MERS only display flu-like symptoms, the aggravation of this disease often

leads to death (para. 2). As reported by the WHO (2019), among 2,459 laboratory-confirmed

patients of MERS, 851 have died since September 2012 (para. 1). Other than respiratory

symptoms, WHO (2019) also points out gastrointestinal symptoms of MERS—a disorder of

the digestive system, such as diarrhea (para. 1). For the symptoms above to be presented,

approximately 14 days are required, as specified by the medical author of emedicne health

(Fine, 2017, para. 3).

If someone’s symptom is suspected as MERS, then how could he/she be cured?

Unfortunately, there is no vaccine or treatment reported until this point in time. Still, WHO is

working on to develop the licensed vaccine for MERS, even holding vaccines workshop in

November 2018 (2018, para. 2). Although we cannot get rid of the MERS-CoV entirely, it is

possible to lessen the likelihood of transmission by several methods. For the people who

already display the symptoms of MERS, some precautions are strongly requested. At first,

they must separate themselves and directly report to the CDC or hospitals. Also, they should

“wear facemask” and “cover their coughs and sneezes” when contacting uninfected people

(CDC, 2019b). Those who have MERS patients nearby or live in high attack rate countries

must wash their hands frequently and avoid visiting crowded places. In addition, WHO

(2019) is warning that diabetes, lung disease, and weak immunity raise the risk of catching

MERS-CoV (para. 12). In the first place, not attaching the host—camels—in the Middle East

would cut off the probability of infection.

 Although MERS exerted its influence all over the world, certain countries greatly

suffered from the impacts of MERS. The graph below signifies two major victimized nations.

Figure 1. Epidemic curve of laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV human infections reported to

WHO as of 30 June 2019
Thus, analyzing the circumstances in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA] and the ROK

would provide the overall impacts of MERS had on societies. The outbreak of MERS

changed largely two sectors of a nation: healthcare and economy. First of all, due to the quick

transmission of MERS-CoV in both KSA and ROK, improvements in healthcare policy and

systems were required. Taking the example of the KSA, a researcher from KSA strongly

argues that “political will and support, integration of primary health care and public health,

and on-job professional programs for the workforce” are fundamental to revitalize healthcare

systems (Shehri, 2019, p. 89). The impact of MERS on the economy was consequential,

especially on the tourism sector. In effect, research on the economic impact of MERS

outbreak in the ROK found out that 2.1 million visitors reduced in 2015 due to MERS;

monetary loss regarding tourism was US$106 million (Joo et al., 2019, p. 100). There would

be a lot more damages incurred by MERS such as psychological anxiety among citizens,

confusion in the healthcare department, increased cost of the quarantine, etc. At any rate,
MERS outbreak promoted awareness toward contagious disease, and a number of nations are

putting more effort into prevention for the disease.

To recapitulate, since Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [MERS] has been a major

issue in the 21st century for its high fatality rate, it is necessary to precisely understand its

symptoms, prevention methods, and impacts on societies. MERS was found to damage the

respiratory function, often leading to the infectee’s death. However, no licensed vaccine or

treatment for this destructive epidemic has been found yet. Preventing the MERS-CoV from

spreading—quarantine, reporting, and washing hands—is the only way to alleviate the fast

transmission. A ripple effect MERS brought can be conjectured through examples in the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea. Both nations became keenly aware of

reforming healthcare policies and systems; economic loss caused by MERS was also

considerable, which shows the influence of epidemic on secondary sectors. Thus, researchers

should persist in developing a certified vaccine for MERS, while the government all around

the world should make an effort to build a resilient healthcare sector.

 Works Cited

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019a, August 2). About Middle East

Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Retrieved November 26, 2019, from

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/about/index.html.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019b, August 2). MERS: Preventing Spreading

in Homes & Communities. Retrieved November 26, 2019, from

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/hcp/home-care-patient.html.

Davis, C. P. (2017, March 31). What Are the Symptoms of MERS Virus Infection? Retrieved

November 26, 2019, from

https://www.medicinenet.com/symptoms_of_mers_virus_infection/views.htm.

Fine, S. M. (2017, September 11). MERS-CoV Infection, Symptoms, Causes, and

Transmission. Retrieved November 26, 2019, from

https://www.emedicinehealth.com/middle_east_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus/

article_em.htm#what_are_the_symptoms_of_mers-cov.

Joo, H., Maskery, B. A., Berro, A. D., Rotz, L. D., Lee, Y.-K., & Brown, C. M. (2019).

Economic Impact of the 2015 MERS Outbreak on the Republic of Koreas Tourism-

Related Industries. Health Security, 17(2), 100–108. doi: 10.1089/hs.2018.0115

Shehri, A. M. A. (2015). A lesson learned from Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in

Saudi Arabia. Medical Teacher, 37(sup1), 88–93. doi:

10.3109/0142159x.2015.1006610

World Health Organization. (2019, March 11). Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus

(MERS-CoV). Factsheet. Retrieved November 26, 2019, from

https://www.who.int/emergencies/mers-cov/en/.
World Health Organization. (2018, November 30). MERS therapeutics and vaccines

workshop 30 November 2018. Retrieved November 26, 2019, from

https://www.who.int/blueprint/what/norms-standards/mers-vaccines-workshop-30-

november-2018/en/.

Zumla, A., Hui, D. S., & Perlman, S. (2015). Middle East respiratory syndrome. The Lancet,

386(9997), 995–1007. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(15)60454-8