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Editorial Volume 2 Issue 6
The middle-east-respiratory-syndrome coronavirus and the lung
Attapon Cheepsattayakorn1,2,3
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1Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Lung, Pulmonary and Respiratory Research, USA
210th Zonal Tuberculosis and Chest Disease Center, Thailand
310th Office of Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Disease Control, Thailand
Correspondence: Attapon Cheepsattayakorn, 10th Zonal Tuberculosis and Chest Disease Center, 143 Sridornchai Road ChangklanMuang Chiang Mai 50100 Thailand, Tel 66-53-140767, Fax 66-53-140773
Received: October 01, 2015 | Published: October 2, 2015
Citation: Cheepsattayakorn A. The middle-east-respiratory-syndrome coronavirus and the lung. J Lung Pulm Respir Res. 2015;2(6):119. DOI: 10.15406/jlprr.2015.02.00060
Editorial
The Middle-East-Respiratory-Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is an emerging infectious organism associated with severe respiratory symptoms and renal failure found in infected individuals. The initial name of this novel coronavirus was hCoV-EMG, which stood for human coronavirus-Erasmus Medical College, where the first viral isolate was sequenced. The past-two-year discovered isolate from South Africa, the Netherlands (BtCoV/VM314/2008), and putative bat coronaviruses in China (BtCoV-HKU4 and BtCoV-HKU5) are the closet phylogenetic neighbors to MERS-CoV. These four bat coronaviruses have been sequenced only from bat specimens and have never been isolated as live viruses from either bats or the environment. In the Arabian Peninsula, bats seem to be the reservoir host of the virus, but are probably not the source of the ongoing MERS-CoV outbreak because of limited contact with humans in this region. Nevertheless, the origin of MERS-CoV remains a mystery. In several countries in Arabian Peninsula and Africa, the high rates of MERS-CoV-specific antibodies in dromedary camels were identified, particularly in respiratory specimens, milk, and feces collected from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, and Qatar. Casey B found that death rates were highest among those with the most severe disease progression, particularly, congestive heart failure, and other co-morbidities. Das et al. revealed that pulmonary infiltration in the right lower zone, right middle zone, and left middle zone were the most common roentgen graphic characteristics of the died patients.
Acknowledgements
None.
Conflict of interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
©2015 Cheepsattayakorn. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.