1 of 1
Story summary
- World Health Organization warns of rising Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus cases, reporting 19 infections and four deaths as of December 21, 2025, mostly in Saudi Arabia.
- Symptoms include fever, coughing, and shortness of breath.
- Researchers in Brazil identified a new bat-borne coronavirus sharing about 72% of its genome with MERS-CoV, raising concerns about human infection because of spike-protein similarities.
- There is currently no vaccine for MERS.
