%0 Journal Article %J (Preprint) Originally published in K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, eds. World Heath And Global issues . Cengage | Worldmark %D 2016 %T SARS, MERS, and the emergence of corona viruses %A K.Lee Lerner %X Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was the first viral highly transmissible emergent disease to appear among humans during the twenty-first century. Caused by a coronavirus (SARS-CoV), SARS is far more lethal than the pandemic 2009 H1N1 flu (caused by a Type A H1N1 influenza virus). Although less lethal than the H5N1 avian flu virus, the SARS virus is more transmissible among humans than the H5N1 virus. In 2012, a novel human coronavirus, now called Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), emerged in the Middle East to cause fatal human infections. MERS-CoV human infection is similar to SARS-CoV in having a high fatality rate and the ability to spread from person to person which resulted in secondary cases among close contacts including healthcare workers without travel history to the Middle East. Both SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV viruses also have close genetic and physiological relationships with known bat coronaviruses. (download to read moe) %B (Preprint) Originally published in K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, eds. World Heath And Global issues . Cengage | Worldmark %G eng