[Taxacom] MERS pandemic (genus Betacoronavirus)

[Kenneth Kinman]

Hi All,
       Well, we finally see the Director of the CDC admitting that 10 times more people might have been exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19 than the "official" number of cases.  But what I don't see is anyone addressing the possibility that the closely related MERS virus might also be involved.   The MERS virus has been around a lot longer than the virus which causes COVID-19.  And apparently less than 1,400 people in the United States have been tested for MERS or its antibodies, which is frankly a pathetic number of tests.  I still think there is a real possibility that MERS virus has spread undetected in many parts of the United States, and that it has now provided partial protection from severe symptoms in those exposed to the recent virus which causes COVID-19.
       The supposed fatality rate from MERS (34.4 %) therefore might well be a HUGE over-estimate.  Might be even be 3.0% or less, but who knows given the massive failure to test for that virus or its antibodies.  I have seen a few suggestions that other coronaviruses (which cause the common cold) might provide some protection against COVID-19, but I have yet to see anyone suggesting the more probable scenario (in my opinion) of undetected MERS spreading (since 2013) being involved.
                         -------Ken Kinman

________________________________
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 2, 2020 8:38 AM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Subject: [Taxacom] MERS pandemic (genus Betacoronavirus)

Followup on  genus Betacoronavirus pandemics:
       Worldwide there were supposedly only 2,519 confirmed cases of MERS as of January 2020.   However, way back in 2015, a study published in The Lancet had already estimated from antibody testing (from the year 2013) that between 27,000 and 72,000 individuals older than 15 years were probably seropositive for MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia.   Who knows how many might have become infected since 2013 in Saudi Arabia alone (not to mention worldwide).
        Sounds like only the seriously ill (most likely to die) from MERS have been tested, that the fatality rate is thus extremely over-estimated, and it has likely spread mostly undetected since 2013.   If soldiers and others coming back from the Middle East were just carriers with mild symptoms, they almost certainly would not have sought testing, much less met the CDC's stringent "PUI" criteria for MERS testing.   If testing, testing, testing is the key to tracking COVID-19, shouldn't the same have been done for the MERS coronavirus?   Shouldn't a MERS testing study be done?  Especially if many of the false positives on COVID-19 might actually be reacting to MERS?

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(15)70090-3/fulltext

At the end of January 2020, a total of 2519 laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), including 866 associated deaths. ( http://www.emro.who.int/pandemic-epidemic-diseases/mers-cov/mers-situation-update-january-2020.html )

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