Disturbances of nursing students in internship during emerging disease COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study.

AIM: The aim of the study was to examine the experiences of nursing students in internship during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: A qualitative study. METHODS: Purposeful sampling was conducted among undergraduate nursing students at Tabriz School of Nursing in November 2021. Students participated in 14 in-depth open-ended interviews and stated their experiences and opinions on internships during the COVID epidemic until full data saturation. Data analysis was performed using the conventional content analysis method. This study followed the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) checklist. RESULTS: Findings were extracted and classified into five main categories, including a lack of facilities and equipment, psychological disturbances, physical risk, disturbances in education and learning activities and movement to continue clinical learning in the situation. CONCLUSION: Nursing students in clinical training during the COVID epidemic have experienced physical and mental health issues, as well as educational challenges. During an infectious disease epidemic period, education administrators should adopt appropriate strategies to protect students' health and facilitate their educational and learning activities.

Epidemiology, Evolution, Transmission, and Therapeutics of COVID-19 Outbreak: An Update on the Status

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an etiologic agent of the respiratory disease in humans known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The beginning of the outbreak of the disease was initially reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019, where patients felt SARS pneumonia-like symptoms with unknown etiology. Since then, it has been noticed that SARS-CoV-2 positive patients show mild to severe upper respiratory ill-ness.SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the class of Coronavirus, which is known to make its transfer from animals to humans and for the concerned virus;investigators have claimed its origin from bat coro-navirus at whole-genome level with a 96% sequence identity. The COVID-19 virus is extremely contagious and communicable in nature and has spread across the world since its first outbreak doc-umented in Wuhan, China. On March 9, 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as a pandemic, and within a month, it was already reported to have shown its presence in 213 countries and territories or areas. As of Nov15, 2020, this novel virus has infected approximately. 53.7 million people and caused 1.3 million mortalities worldwide. However, the mortality rate varied between 3-13% and was influenced by a number of factors, including the demographic distribution and maybe age, comorbidities, etc. Diagnosis of the disease is a key component of controlling the spread of the virus, and several techniques, including RT-PCR, ELISA, and sequencing-based ap-proaches, are in use. To cure COVID-19 patients, as of now, we do not have any safe and effective treatment. Currently, there is no safe and effective drug for the disease. Furthermore, various pharmaceutical industries are working on vaccine developments, which are in progress with the final stages of clinical studies. Therapeutic options are also currently under investigation in various re-gions of the world. However, there are various potential therapeutic targets to repurpose the present antiviral therapy for developing potential interventions against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Boosting the immune system can also help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 using various medications and exercises. Here, this review summarizes and discusses the epidemiology, evolution, transmis-sion, and therapeutics scientific advancements related to this novel pandemic.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.

Lunar New Year and Ied Fitri: The circle of COVID-19.

The Lunar new year and Ied Fitri is a national holiday where the mass movement of people is seen. The first potentiates the spread of COVID-19, while the latter is a test for federal management of COVID-19 and the success of its vaccination campaign. Analysis of new confirmed cases, hospitalization and number of elective surgery cancelations due to positive PCR screening in the preoperative period provides a snapshot of herd immunity.

Revisiting scrub typhus: A neglected tropical disease.

Scrub typhus is an under diagnosed re-emerging vector borne disease caused by an intracellular gram negative bacteria, Orientia. The disease is commonly prevalent in rural and hilly areas of Tsutsugumashi triangle. The diagnosis of the disease is very challenging due to similarity of its early symptoms with other febrile illnesses, like dengue and COVID 19, as well as non-availability of rapid, reliable and cost-effective methods. Moreover, the diverse clinical presentation in severe cases make it significant health problem. The occupational and behavioral risks responsible for the transmission lead to urgent need of vaccine development against the disease. The complete knowledge about its pathogenesis and the interaction with host's immune cells may help the scientists in developing the appropriate diagnostic methods as well as the vaccines.

Effective multipurpose sewage sludge and food waste reduction strategies: A focus on recent advances and future perspectives

Energy crisis and increasing rigorous management standards pose significant challenges for solid waste management worldwide. Several emerging diseases such as COVID-19 aggravated the already complex solid waste management crisis, especially sewage sludge and food waste streams, because of the increasingly large production year by year. As mature waste disposal technologies, landfills, incineration, composting, and some other methods are widespread for solid wastes management. This paper reviews recent advances in key sewage sludge disposal technologies. These include incineration, anaerobic digestion, and valuable products oriented-conversion. Food waste disposal technologies comprised of thermal treatment, fermentation, value-added product conversion, and composting have also been described. The hot topic and dominant research foci of each area are summarized, simultaneously compared with conventional technologies in terms of organic matter degradation or conversion performance, energy generation, and renewable resources production. Future perspectives of each technology that include issues not well understood and predicted challenges are discussed with a positive effect on the full-scale implementation of the discussed disposal methods. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Adapting Longstanding Public Health Collaborations between Government of Kenya and CDC Kenya in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2021.

Kenya's Ministry of Health (MOH) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Kenya (CDC Kenya) have maintained a 40-year partnership during which measures were implemented to prevent, detect, and respond to disease threats. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the MOH and CDC Kenya rapidly responded to mitigate disease impact on Kenya's 52 million residents. We describe activities undertaken jointly by the MOH and CDC Kenya that lessened the effects of COVID-19 during 5 epidemic waves from March through December 2021. Activities included establishing national and county-level emergency operations centers and implementing workforce development and deployment, infection prevention and control training, laboratory diagnostic advancement, enhanced surveillance, and information management. The COVID-19 pandemic provided fresh impetus for the government of Kenya to establish a national public health institute, launched in January 2022, to consolidate its public health activities and counter COVID-19 and future infectious, vaccine-preventable, and emerging zoonotic diseases.

THE IMPLEMENTATION GAP IN EMERGING DISEASE RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WILDLIFE TRADE.

The wildlife trade has been characterized as one of the biggest risk factors in the emergence of new infectious diseases. In the shadow of COVID-19, there is growing political and scientific urgency to manage this risk. Existing studies and experiences make it clear that something must be done but are less clear on how to get it done. It is a quite different task to accumulate evidence on the presence of pathogens, their locations in the supply chain, and their spillover to new hosts than to identify effective ways to prevent and mitigate emerging disease under real-world conditions. This study sought peer-reviewed evidence on the effectiveness, acceptability, feasibility, and sustainability of risk reduction interventions for zoonotic and nonzoonotic disease emergence in the wildlife trade. An environmental scan triangulated information from a scoping review following a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis extension for scoping review protocol, two narrative literature reviews, and key informant interviews of 26 international wildlife health experts. Existing literature has been inattentive to program implementation or evaluation studies. There was insufficient evidence to identify effective and sustainable risk management actions. Studies on the effects of social, epidemiologic, and ecologic context on intervention success was lacking, as was research using a complex systems perspective. The lack of systematic program evaluations or implementation studies leaves decision makers with insufficient evidence to select interventions likely to be acceptable, effective, and sustainable within and across the disparate context of the wildlife trade. This necessitates adaptive risk management and innovations in program implementation and evaluation to ensure evidence-based risk management.

Identification of Risk Factors for COVID-19-related Death using Machine Learning Methods.

Background: Unknown cases of pneumonia appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. Following the worldwide spread of the disease, the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The total number of infected people worldwide as of December 16, 2020, was more than 74 million, more than one million and six hundred thousand of whom died from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to identify the risk factors for the mortality of COVID-19 in Hamadan, west of Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study used the information of all patients with COVID-19 admitted to Shahid Beheshti and Sina hospitals in Hamadan during January 2020-November 2020. Logistic regression model, decision tree, and random forest were used to assess risk factors for death due to COVID-19. Results: This study was conducted on 1853 people with COVID-19. Blood urea nitrogen change, SPO2 at admission, the duration of hospitalization, age, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, number of breaths, complete blood count, systolic blood pressure, hemoglobin, and sodium were effective predictors in both methods of decision tree and random forest. Conclusion: The risk factors identified in the present study may serve as surrogate indicators to identify the risk of death due to COVID-19. The proper model to predict COVID-19-related mortality is random forest based on sensitivity.

A rapid, easy, and scalable whole blood monocyte CD169 assay for outpatient screening during SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, and potentially other emerging disease outbreaks.

Objective: The COVID-19 corona virus disease outbreak is globally challenging health systems and societies. Its diagnosis relies on molecular methods, with drawbacks revealed by mass screening. Upregulation of neutrophil CD64 or monocyte CD169 has been abundantly reported as markers of bacterial or acute viral infection, respectively. We evaluated the sensitivity of an easy, one-step whole blood flow cytometry assay to measure these markers within 10 min, as a potential screening test for COVID-19 patients. Methods: Patients (n = 177) with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection were tested on 10 µL blood and results were compared with reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results: We observed 98% and 100% sensitivity in early-stage (n = 52) and asymptomatic patients (n = 9), respectively. Late-stage patients, who presented for a second control RT-qPCR, were negative for both assays in most cases. Conversely, neutrophil CD64 expression was unchanged in 75% of cases, without significant differences between groups. Conclusion: Monocyte CD169 evaluation was highly sensitive for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection in first-presentation patients; and it returns to basal level upon infection clearance. The potential ease of fingerprick collection, minimal time-to-result, and low cost rank this biomarker measurement as a potential viral disease screening tool, including COVID-19. When the virus prevalence in the tested population is usually low (1%-10%), such an approach could increase the testing capacity 10 to 100-fold, with the same limited molecular testing resources, which could focus on confirmation purposes only.

New Ideas and Methods of Coping Mechanism for Infectious Diseases Based on Big Data: A Critical Literature Review

Based on big data analysis, we discuss how to formulate an optimal coping mechanism for infectious diseases, especially major and emerging infectious diseases. First, by combining big data analysis and statistical analysis model and deducing whether the emerging disease is contagious, the strength of the contagion effect and the possible consequences, this study will determine whether the corresponding coping strategies should be implemented for infectious diseases, especially major and emerging infectious diseases. Secondly, according to the inspection results and actual situation, the optimal coping strategy is formulated to minimize the loss of life and property security of the country and the society by using the optimization principle and the objective management in management science. Finally, the statistical analysis method and the six sigma principle are combined to develop a feedback mechanism to evaluate whether the formulated coping strategies can achieve the expected results in practice. Our research has improved the research framework of infectious diseases in theory and provided scientific reference and experience for the major and emerging infectious diseases in practice for the future. © 2022 IEEE.

Projecting vaccine demand and impact for emerging zoonotic pathogens.

BACKGROUND: Despite large outbreaks in humans seeming improbable for a number of zoonotic pathogens, several pose a concern due to their epidemiological characteristics and evolutionary potential. To enable effective responses to these pathogens in the event that they undergo future emergence, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is advancing the development of vaccines for several pathogens prioritized by the World Health Organization. A major challenge in this pursuit is anticipating demand for a vaccine stockpile to support outbreak response. METHODS: We developed a modeling framework for outbreak response for emerging zoonoses under three reactive vaccination strategies to assess sustainable vaccine manufacturing needs, vaccine stockpile requirements, and the potential impact of the outbreak response. This framework incorporates geographically variable zoonotic spillover rates, human-to-human transmission, and the implementation of reactive vaccination campaigns in response to disease outbreaks. As proof of concept, we applied the framework to four priority pathogens: Lassa virus, Nipah virus, MERS coronavirus, and Rift Valley virus. RESULTS: Annual vaccine regimen requirements for a population-wide strategy ranged from > 670,000 (95% prediction interval 0-3,630,000) regimens for Lassa virus to 1,190,000 (95% PrI 0-8,480,000) regimens for Rift Valley fever virus, while the regimens required for ring vaccination or targeting healthcare workers (HCWs) were several orders of magnitude lower (between 1/25 and 1/700) than those required by a population-wide strategy. For each pathogen and vaccination strategy, reactive vaccination typically prevented fewer than 10% of cases, because of their presently low R0 values. Targeting HCWs had a higher per-regimen impact than population-wide vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Our framework provides a flexible methodology for estimating vaccine stockpile needs and the geographic distribution of demand under a range of outbreak response scenarios. Uncertainties in our model estimates highlight several knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to target vulnerable populations more accurately. These include surveillance gaps that mask the true geographic distribution of each pathogen, details of key routes of spillover from animal reservoirs to humans, and the role of human-to-human transmission outside of healthcare settings. In addition, our estimates are based on the current epidemiology of each pathogen, but pathogen evolution could alter vaccine stockpile requirements.

Futurology and monitoring in the field of virology to deal with emerging diseases

Every year we see many changes in the world around us. One of these changes is the climate and weather, and it could be one of the reasons for changing behaviors between humans and animals, which could cause zoonotic diseases. We usually face new diseases that infect a growing population leading to a pandemic. Different reasons are leading to an increase in the emergence of new infections. Some of these diseases can be associated with zoonotic diseases and the diverse world of viral genetics and its failures. Furthermore, properties like mutations and also unknown effects of these mutations on the virulence of the agents make it challenging to trace new diseases. As we know, preventing emerging diseases is inevitable and viral diseases are dangerous, and some viruses can spread quickly and cause an endemic or pandemic. As was noticed during the recent pandemic, the need to study emerging diseases in the field of virology has become more and more apparent to us. In this review, we want to look at how we could monitor and control these diseases with new approaches and what should be done when a disease emerges. Moreover, we will investigate risk factors, ways to deal with emerging viral infections, new treatments that make the condition better when a person gets infected, and the future of these diseases. We will also study the ways to deal with pandemics with the new generations of vaccines.

Mathematical Modeling Of The Impact Of Vaccination On Infected Linked Covid-19 Disease

Developing a vaccine takes time especially for a newly emerging disease and a first generation of such vaccine may not to be 100 percent effective. Using mathematical modeling, we aimed in this work to evaluate the effect of a futur perfect COVID-19 vaccine on the disease evolution. © 2021 IEEE.

Cross-Recognition of SARS-CoV-2 B-Cell Epitopes with Other Betacoronavirus Nucleoproteins.

The B and T lymphocytes of the adaptive immune system are important for the control of most viral infections, including COVID-19. Identification of epitopes recognized by these cells is fundamental for understanding how the immune system detects and removes pathogens, and for antiviral vaccine design. Intriguingly, several cross-reactive T lymphocyte epitopes from SARS-CoV-2 with other betacoronaviruses responsible for the common cold have been identified. In addition, antibodies that cross-recognize the spike protein, but not the nucleoprotein (N protein), from different betacoronavirus have also been reported. Using a consensus of eight bioinformatic methods for predicting B-cell epitopes and the collection of experimentally detected epitopes for SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, we identified four surface-exposed, conserved, and hypothetical antigenic regions that are exclusive of the N protein. These regions were analyzed using ELISA assays with two cohorts: SARS-CoV-2 infected patients and pre-COVID-19 samples. Here we describe four epitopes from SARS-CoV-2 N protein that are recognized by the humoral response from multiple individuals infected with COVID-19, and are conserved in other human coronaviruses. Three of these linear surface-exposed sequences and their peptide homologs in SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-OC43 were also recognized by antibodies from pre-COVID-19 serum samples, indicating cross-reactivity of antibodies against coronavirus N proteins. Different conserved human coronaviruses (HCoVs) cross-reactive B epitopes against SARS-CoV-2 N protein are detected in a significant fraction of individuals not exposed to this pandemic virus. These results have potential clinical implications.

Blackwater Fever in Pregnancy With Severe Falciparum Malaria: A Case of Imported Malaria From Nigeria to the United Kingdom During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

We present the case of imported malaria in pregnancy to the United Kingdom (UK) from Nigeria, where a 28-year-old primigravida presented to our maternity assessment unit (MAU) with complaints of pyrexia, rigors and passing dark coloured urine. She gave a travel history of recent migration from Nigeria 10 days before presenting to our emergency department. She initially became unwell five days after her arrival with general malaise and myalgia. On day six, she developed lower abdominal pain and observed that her urine was dark in colour. This prompted her to contact her general practitioner (GP). Treatment for a urinary tract infection was initiated by the GP after a phone consultation in keeping with COVID-19 contingency guidance, and the patient was prescribed antibiotics for three days. She presented to the emergency department two days after completing the course of antibiotics where she complained of worsening pelvic pain, reduced foetal movements and passing black urine. She was treated as suspected COVID-19 and red flag sepsis. Obstetric review led to investigation and diagnosis of severe malaria in pregnancy, which was accompanied by blackwater fever (BWF). The patient recovered after three doses of artesunate. An ultrasound scan of the foetus revealed a congenital cardiac anomaly, which had not been detected in an earlier scan. There was no evidence of congenital malaria in the neonate after delivery. There are several novel aspects in this case as maternal mortality in severe Plasmodium falciparum can be significantly high. Those who survive the disease in pregnancy are also known to develop several complications such as intrauterine death and preterm labour. There was also the component of blackwater fever, which is a rare event associated with severe malaria, and it also has a mortality rate. Significant in her medical history was a diagnosis of the sickle cell trait, and we postulate that this feature gave an added protection from the complications of severe malaria in pregnancy as well as blackwater fever.

COVID-19-Associated Mucormycosis, A New Incident in Recent Time: Is An Emerging Disease in The Near Future Impending?

Mucormycosis (also known as black fungus) is caused by fungi of the Zygomycetes class and is the third most common invasive mycosis after candidiasis and aspergillosis. They colonize a large number of patients without invading them. Systemic glucocorticoids are currently used to treat severe Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). In such patients, opportunistic fungal infections are a problem. Although COVID-19-related pulmonary aspergillosis is becoming more common, mucormycosis is still uncommon. Mucormycosis normally appears 10 to 14 days after being admitted to the hospital. Mucormycosis is a rare but dangerous infection that can make extreme COVID-19 worse. Mucormycosis is more likely to occur in people who have diabetes mellitus and other risk factors. Mucormycosis is most likely exacerbated by concurrent glucocorticoid treatment. To improve outcomes, a high index of suspicion and aggressive management is required. Excessive usage of steroids, monoclonal antibodies, and broad-spectrum antibiotics might cause the formation or worsen of a fungal infection. A high index of suspicion and aggressive management are needed. In patients with COVID-19 infection, physicians should be vigilant of the likelihood of subsequent invasive fungal infections. To enhance results in pulmonary mucormycosis, early diagnosis and treatment are critical. Confirmation of the clinical form necessitates a combination of symptoms that are consistent with tissue invasion histologically. Combining various clinical data and the isolation of the fungus from clinical samples in culture is needed for the probable diagnosis of mucormycosis. The organism that causes mucormycosis is identified using macroscopic and microscopic morphological criteria, carbohydrate assimilation, and the maximum temperature at which they can expand. Mucormycosis must be treated with antifungal medication prescribed by a doctor. It may necessitate surgery in some circumstances, and it can result in the loss of the upper jaw and, in some situations, an eye.

Autochthonous West Nile virus infection in Germany: Increasing numbers and a rare encephalitis case in a kidney transplant recipient.

West Nile Virus (WNV) infections are increasingly detected in birds and horses in central Europe, with the first mosquito-borne autochthonous human infection detected in Germany in 2019. Human infections are typically asymptomatic, with occasional severe neurological disease. Because of a low number of cases in central Europe, awareness regarding potential cases is low and WNV diagnostic testing is not routine. We tested cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from unsolved encephalitis and meningitis cases from Berlin from 2019 to 2020, and describe a WNV-encephalitis case in a 33-year-old kidney transplant recipient. The infectious course was resolved by serology, RT-PCR and sequencing of stored samples. Phylogenetic sequence analysis revealed a close relationship of the patient's WNV strain to German sequences from 2019 and 2020. A lack of travel history and patient self-isolation during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic suggest the infection was acquired in the patient's home or garden. Serological tests of four people sharing the living space were negative. Retrospective RT-PCR and WNV-IgM testing of 671 CSF samples from unsolved encephalitis and meningitis cases from Berlin detected no additional infections. The recent increase of WNV cases illustrates the importance of considering WNV in cases of meningoencephalitis, especially in immunocompromised patients, as described here. Proper education and communication and a revised diagnostic strategy will help to raise awareness and to detect future WNV infections.

Contributions of the international plant science community to the fight against infectious diseases in humans-part 2: Affordable drugs in edible plants for endemic and re-emerging diseases.

The fight against infectious diseases often focuses on epidemics and pandemics, which demand urgent resources and command attention from the health authorities and media. However, the vast majority of deaths caused by infectious diseases occur in endemic zones, particularly in developing countries, placing a disproportionate burden on underfunded health systems and often requiring international interventions. The provision of vaccines and other biologics is hampered not only by the high cost and limited scalability of traditional manufacturing platforms based on microbial and animal cells, but also by challenges caused by distribution and storage, particularly in regions without a complete cold chain. In this review article, we consider the potential of molecular farming to address the challenges of endemic and re-emerging diseases, focusing on edible plants for the development of oral drugs. Key recent developments in this field include successful clinical trials based on orally delivered dried leaves of Artemisia annua against malarial parasite strains resistant to artemisinin combination therapy, the ability to produce clinical-grade protein drugs in leaves to treat infectious diseases and the long-term storage of protein drugs in dried leaves at ambient temperatures. Recent FDA approval of the first orally delivered protein drug encapsulated in plant cells to treat peanut allergy has opened the door for the development of affordable oral drugs that can be manufactured and distributed in remote areas without cold storage infrastructure and that eliminate the need for expensive purification steps and sterile delivery by injection.

Risk assessment for COVID-19 transmission at household level in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from DHS.

Household habitat conditions matter for diseases transmission and control, especially in the case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). These conditions include availability and adequacy of sanitation facilities, and number of persons per room. Despite this, little attention is being paid to these conditions as a pathway to understanding the transmission and prevention of COVID-19, especially in Africa, where household habitat conditions are largely suboptimal. This study assesses household sanitation and isolation capacities to understand the COVID-19 transmission risk at household level across Africa. We conducted a secondary analysis of the Demographic and Health Surveys of 16 African countries implemented between 2015 and 2018 to understand the status of households for prevention of COVID-19 transmission in home. We assessed handwashing capacity and self-isolation capacity using multiple parameters, and identified households with elderly persons, who are most at risk of the disease. We fitted two-level random intercept logit models to explore independent relationships among the three indicators, while controlling for the selected explanatory variables. Handwashing capacity was highest in Tanzania (48.2%), and lowest in Chad (4.2%), varying by household location (urban or rural), as well as household wealth. Isolation capacity was highest in South Africa (77.4%), and lowest in Ethiopia (30.9%). Senegal had the largest proportion of households with an elderly person (42.1%), while Angola (16.4%) had the lowest. There were strong, independent relationships between handwashing and isolation capacities in a majority of countries. Also, strong associations were found between isolation capacity and presence of older persons in households. Household capacity for COVID-19 prevention varied significantly across countries, with those having elderly household members not necessarily having the best handwashing or isolation capacity. In view of the age risk factors of COVID-19 transmission, and its dependence on handwashing and isolation capacities of households, each country needs to use the extant information on its risk status to shape communication and intervention strategies that will help limit the impact of the disease in its population across Africa. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41118-021-00130-w.

Focus on Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

Since the first case of human infection by the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia in June 2012, more than 2260 cases of confirmed MERS-CoV infection and 803 related deaths have been reported since the 16th of October 2018. The vast majority of these cases (71%) were reported in Saudi Arabia but the epidemic has now spread to 27 countries and has not ceased 6 years later, unlike SARS-CoV that disappeared a little less than 2 years after emerging. Due to the high fatality rate observed in MERS-CoV infected patients (36%), much effort has been put into understanding the origin and pathophysiology of this novel coronavirus to prevent it from becoming endemic in humans. This review focuses in particular on the origin, epidemiology and clinical manifestations of MERS-CoV, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of infected patients. The experience gained over recent years on how to manage the different risks related to this kind of epidemic will be key to being prepared for future outbreaks of communicable disease.