MERS is a relatively new disease, with the first confirmed
case reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 [2,3].
Globally, a total of 1,321 laboratory-confirmed cases
of MERS-CoV infection, including 466 deaths, have
been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO)
to date, of which more than 1,000 occurred in Saudi
Arabia [2,4]. One of the major challenges in countering
the spread of MERS-CoV is the limited understanding
of the transmissibility and transmission patterns of the
virus, in part because MERS-CoV is a novel pathogen
and the experience to date remains mostly confined
to cases in Saudi Arabia [4]. However, the outbreak of
MERS-CoV in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2014 highlighted
an increased transmissibility for secondary human-tohuman
transmission in healthcare settings [5].