
August 30, 2013 – Dr. Ziad Memish, Deputy Minister of Public Health, Saudi Arabia visited the Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI) to discuss research collaborations. Faculty and students from the Department of Environmental and Global Health (EGH) of the College of Public Health & Health Professions and the EPI are working on six research projects in collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Health. Dr. Memish holds an award he received for giving a seminar at the University of Florida, “”The Hajj and MERS-CoV: Saudi Strategies to Reduce Transmission Risk.” Click here to listen to a recording of Dr. Memish’s lecture.
The novel Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has infected at least 108 persons who acquired the virus from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, or Jordan. The virus appears to be readily transmissible human-to-human. The reservoir for the virus is not well understood but bats, camels, and cats are being considered in MERS-CoV ecology.

For more information:
http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/index.html
Saudi MoH MERS-Cov site: http://www.moh.gov.sa/En/CoronaNew/Pages/default.aspx
WHO MERS -Cov site: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/coronavirus_infections/en/index.html