FLICKR, NIAIDThe World Health Organization last week announced 18 new laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, including three deaths. From September 2012 to date, the CoV has infected 132 people worldwide, killing 58 of them. As scientists continue to investigate the etiology and epidemiology of MERS, others are scouring the CoV genome for clues to its deadly potential and how it first infected humans.
In a report published last week (September 20) in The Lancet, researchers from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health and their international colleagues examined the viral genomes from 21 MERS cases, and analyzed the phylogenetic relationships among them, plus nine already published MERS-CoV genome sequences. Their analysis hinted at multiple chains of infection in humans, suggesting that in one particular outbreak—the Al-Hasa cluster—the MERS-CoV might have been introduced to people more than once. Further, the researchers found evidence to suggest that additional human or animal cases, which have gone undetected to date, may be sources of infection.
“The hypothesis now is [that] there were multiple introductions into the hospitals from the community, which gives us the clue that there is probably a community source of ...
