TY - JOUR T1 - Retrospective, epidemiological cluster analysis of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) epidemic using open source data. AU - Darling,N D, AU - Poss,D E, AU - Schoelen,M P, AU - Metcalf-Kelly,M, AU - Hill,S E, AU - Harris,S, Y1 - 2017/10/24/ PY - 2017/10/25/pubmed PY - 2017/11/29/medline PY - 2017/10/25/entrez KW - Cluster KW - MERS-CoV KW - Middle East respiratory syndrome KW - contact tracing KW - coronavirus KW - healthcare worker KW - nosocomial KW - transmission SP - 3106 EP - 3114 JF - Epidemiology and infection JO - Epidemiol Infect VL - 145 IS - 15 N2 - The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is caused by a novel coronavirus discovered in 2012. Since then, 1806 cases, including 564 deaths, have been reported by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and affected countries as of 1 June 2016. Previous literature attributed increases in MERS-CoV transmission to camel breeding season as camels are likely the reservoir for the virus. However, this literature review and subsequent analysis indicate a lack of seasonality. A retrospective, epidemiological cluster analysis was conducted to investigate increases in MERS-CoV transmission and reports of household and nosocomial clusters. Cases were verified and associations between cases were substantiated through an extensive literature review and the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch's Tiered Source Classification System. A total of 51 clusters were identified, primarily nosocomial (80·4%) and most occurred in KSA (45·1%). Clusters corresponded temporally with the majority of periods of greatest incidence, suggesting a strong correlation between nosocomial transmission and notable increases in cases. SN - 1469-4409 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/29061208/Retrospective_epidemiological_cluster_analysis_of_the_Middle_East_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus__MERS_CoV__epidemic_using_open_source_data_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -