Korean MERS: A new cross continent emerging infectious disease

Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a new emerging infectious disease that was firstly detected in the Middle East[1-3]. The infection was firstly confined within the Middle East. The first case was from Saudi Arabia in 2012. As noted by Banik et al.[4], since its discovery in 2012, MERS coronavirus has reached 23 countries affecting about 1 100 people, including a dozen children, and claiming over 400 lives. This disease can cause severe respiratory illness and was proved to be a coronavirus infection[5,6]. Acute respiratory distress can be difficult to clinically differential diagnose from other acute respiratory viral disease[7]. In 2015, the new emergence of this infection is in Korea and Korean MERS becomes the new concern in public health[8]. In this brief article, the authors discuss on this new cross continent emerging infectious disease. 2. Existence of MERS outside the Middle East