Dr. Ziad Memish lectures on MERS-CoV and the Hajj in Saudi Arabia

Dr. Ziad Memish during his lecture “The Hajj and MERS-CoV: Saudi Strategies to Reduce Transmission Risk.” Photo: Mary Leigh Morris

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.

Professor Greg Gray (EGH), Maha ElBadry (PhD student in EGH), Salah Uddin Khan (PhD student in EGH), Dr. Ziad Memish, Ben Anderson (PhD student in EGH), Dr. Glenn Morris (EPI Director). Photo: Mary Leigh Morris

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