Virology

Middle East respiratory syndrome is caused by the newly identified MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a species with single-stranded RNAbelonging to the genus betacoronavirus which is distinct from SARS coronavirus and the common-cold coronavirus. Its genomes are phylogenetically classified into two clades, Clades A and B. Early cases of MERS were of Clade A clusters (EMC/2012 and Jordan-N3/2012) while new cases are genetically different in general (Clade B). The virus grows readily on Vero cells and LLC-MK2 cells

MERS coronaviruses underelectronic microscope.