WHO EMRO
  • Regions
WHO EMRO
WHO Regional websites
Africa Africa
Americas Americas
Asie du Sud-Est Asie du Sud-Est
Europe Europe
Méditerranée orientale Méditerranée orientale
Pacifique occidental Pacifique occidental
  • Home
  • Health topics
  • Health topics
  • Data and statistics
  • Media centre
  • Information resources
  • Countries
  • Programmes
  • About Us
Search Search

Search

- All words: Returns only documents that match all words.
- Any word: Returns documents that match any word.
- Exact Phrase: Returns only documents that match the exact phrase entered.
- Phrase Prefix: Works like the Exact Phrase mode, except that it allows for prefix matches on the last term in the text.
- Wildcard: Returns documents that match a wildcard expression.
- Fuzzy query: Returns documents that contain terms similar to the search term. For example: If you search for Kolumbia. It will return search results that contain Columbia or Colombia.
  • Global
  • Regions
    WHO Regional websites
    Africa Africa
    Americas Americas
    Asie du Sud-Est Asie du Sud-Est
    Europe Europe
    Méditerranée orientale Méditerranée orientale
    Pacifique occidental Pacifique occidental
Search Search

Search

- All words: Returns only documents that match all words.
- Any word: Returns documents that match any word.
- Exact Phrase: Returns only documents that match the exact phrase entered.
- Phrase Prefix: Works like the Exact Phrase mode, except that it allows for prefix matches on the last term in the text.
- Wildcard: Returns documents that match a wildcard expression.
- Fuzzy query: Returns documents that contain terms similar to the search term. For example: If you search for Kolumbia. It will return search results that contain Columbia or Colombia.

Select your language

  • اللغة العربية
  • Français
WHO EMRO WHO EMRO
  • Home
  • Health topics
    • All Topics »
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • H
    • I
    • J
    • K
    • L
    • M
    • N
    • O
    • P
    • Q
    • R
    • S
    • T
    • U
    • V
    • W
    • X
    • Y
    • Z
  • Health topics
  • Data and statistics
  • Media centre
  • Information resources
  • Countries
  • Programmes
  • About Us
  1. Middle East respiratory syndrome
  • Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)
  • Information resources
  • Related links
  • Latest updates

MERS_copy_copy Training workers in health facilities can help to reduce health care-associated outbreaks of MERS-CoV (Photo: WHO).

Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is an emerging viral respiratory disease caused by the MERS coronavirus, also called MERS-CoV, that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

Symptoms of MERS range from none to mild or severe respiratory ailments, including fever, cough, shortness of breath and, on occasion, pneumonia and gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhoea. In a handful of patients, particularly those with chronic underlying health conditions, the virus may cause severe illness, leading to respiratory failure that requires mechanical ventilation and support in an intensive care unit. Some laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection are reported as asymptomatic, meaning that they do not have any clinical symptoms, yet they are positive for MERS following a laboratory test. Most of these asymptomatic cases have been detected following aggressive contact tracing of a laboratory-confirmed case.

In the Region, 12 countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen) have so far reported laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS. Amongst these countries, imported cases that were associated with travel were reported from Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and Yemen.

Current scientific evidence suggests that dromedary camels are a major reservoir host for MERS-CoV and an animal source of MERS infection in humans. However, the exact role of dromedaries in the transmission of the virus and the exact routes of transmission are unknown. Although no sustained human-to-human transmission has been documented, cases have been reported where there was some unprotected contact with infected persons, such as in a health care setting. Health care-associated outbreaks have occurred in several countries, with the largest seen in the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Preventing MERS relies on avoiding unpasteurized or uncooked animal products, practicing safe hygiene habits in health care settings and around dromedaries, community education and awareness training for health workers, as well as implementing effective control measures. There is no specific antiviral treatment recommended for MERS-CoV infection and no vaccine currently available.

Latest updates

mers-cov-news

Regional situation update

Regional outbreak updates

Global disease outbreak news for MERS

Information resources

Peer-reviewed articles

Special supplement of Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal on novel coronavirus

Videos and posters

Maps and epidemiological curves

WHO MERS-CoV Global Summary and Assessment of Risk

Technical guidance

Meeting reports

» All information resources

Related links

Technical guidance

Public health measures for scaling up national preparedness for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)

Surveillance

Laboratory

Contact tracing

Case management and infection prevention and control

Travel and mass gatherings

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • Site map
    • Home
    • Data and statistics
    • Health Topics
    • Media centre
    • Information Resources
    • Countries
    • Programmes
    • About Us
  • Help and services
    • Careers
    • Copyright
    • Privacy
    • Contact us
  • WHO Offices
    • WHO Headquarters
    • WHO African Region
    • WHO Region of the Americas
    • WHO European Region
    • WHO South-East Asia Region
    • WHO Western Pacific Region
WHO EMRO

Privacy policy

© WHO 2025