More than 1,600 people worldwide have been infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, and complications from it have resulted in nearly 600 deaths. But in the three years since scientists identified the disease, they haven't been able to discover a way to treat or prevent infection. Now a team of international researchers has used genetically modified cows to create antibodies that combat the disease, which could mean that a vaccine might soon be possible. The research was published today in Science Translational Medicine.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is on the rise. Since it was first discovered in 2012 in Saudi Arabia, it has infected over 1,000 people, killing more than 30 in the most recent outbreak in South Korea. Since the disease is so new, researchers still have a lot of questions about how it works and there are no specific vaccines or treatments for it, in part because the animal models that researchers often use to answer some of the preliminary questions don't work for this particular disease. Now researchers have found a workaround, according to a study published today in PNAS, which will hopefully help them find better treatments for MERS more quickly.
After officials found the U.S.'s first case of the deadly virus MERS, they began tracking down everybody who had had contact with the man. Now they're announcing their first find: A man from Illinois whose blood contains antibodies to the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, indicating he previously had a MERS infection. He never got sick enough to go to the doctor, however. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention report he is doing well and not contagious.
