Coronavirus
Coronavirus is typically known to cause common cold and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). They belong to family Coronaviridae. It is an enveloped virus; it has a positive sense RNA genome with helical symmetry nucleocapsid.
There has been emergence of new strain of coronavirus in Middle East known to cause Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus. This was reported in September, 2012 by Dr. Ali Mohamed Zaki (an Egyptian virologist) at the Virology Laboratory of Dr Soliman Fakeeh Hospital Jeddah Saudi Arabia. Dr. Zaki managed to isolate an unidentified coronavirus from the sputum of a 60-year-old male patient suffering from acute pneumonia associated with acute renal failure. The MERS was also referred to as SARS-like virus or novel coronavirus or Saudi SARS. As of 30 May 2013, MERS has infected at least 51 people with cases reported in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy. The death toll had risen to 30. The methodology used by Dr. Zaki was that the clinical isolate was initially tested for influenza virus A, influenza virus B, enterovirus and adenovirus, but all tested negative. When tested with pancoronavirus degenerate primer-based method by RT-PCR amplification and sequencing of a 251-bp fragment of the coronavirus polymerase gene, the isolate gave a band at a molecular weight appropriate for a coronavirus. The virus RNA was tested also in Dr. Ron Fouchier's laboratory in Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and was confirmed to be a new member of the beta group of coronaviruses, closely related to bat coronaviruses. It has been reasoned that MERS Coronavirus doesn’t spread easily from person to person, however people reported so far with the disease belongs to older strata of society, often with other medical conditions.
There has been emergence of new strain of coronavirus in Middle East known to cause Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus. This was reported in September, 2012 by Dr. Ali Mohamed Zaki (an Egyptian virologist) at the Virology Laboratory of Dr Soliman Fakeeh Hospital Jeddah Saudi Arabia. Dr. Zaki managed to isolate an unidentified coronavirus from the sputum of a 60-year-old male patient suffering from acute pneumonia associated with acute renal failure. The MERS was also referred to as SARS-like virus or novel coronavirus or Saudi SARS. As of 30 May 2013, MERS has infected at least 51 people with cases reported in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy. The death toll had risen to 30. The methodology used by Dr. Zaki was that the clinical isolate was initially tested for influenza virus A, influenza virus B, enterovirus and adenovirus, but all tested negative. When tested with pancoronavirus degenerate primer-based method by RT-PCR amplification and sequencing of a 251-bp fragment of the coronavirus polymerase gene, the isolate gave a band at a molecular weight appropriate for a coronavirus. The virus RNA was tested also in Dr. Ron Fouchier's laboratory in Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and was confirmed to be a new member of the beta group of coronaviruses, closely related to bat coronaviruses. It has been reasoned that MERS Coronavirus doesn’t spread easily from person to person, however people reported so far with the disease belongs to older strata of society, often with other medical conditions.