Table 1.

Epidemiology and biological characteristics of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

		SARS-CoV	MERS-CoV
Genus		Beta-CoVs, lineage B	Beta-CoVs, lineage C
Possible Natural Reservoir		Bat	Bat
Possible Intermediary Host		Palm civet	Dromedary camel
Origin		Guangdong province, China	Arabian Peninsula
Clinical Epidemiology	Total global number reported to WHO	More than 8098 people	2254 (from 2012 through 16 September 2018)
	Affected countries	29	27
	Number of deaths	916	800
	Mortality	More than 10%	More than 35%
	Transmission region	Globally	Regionally
	Transmission patterns	From animal to human; from human to human
The predominant receptor		Human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)	Human dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4 or CD26)
Receptor distribution		Arterial and venous endothelium; arterial smooth muscle; small intestine; respiratory tract epithelium; alveolar monocytes and macrophages	Respiratory tract epithelium; kidney; small intestine; liver and prostate; activated leukocytes
Cell line susceptibility		Respiratory tract; kidney; liver	Respiratory tract; intestinal tract; genitourinary tract; liver, kidney, neurons; monocyte; Tlymphocyte; and histiocytic cell lines
Viral replication efficiency		High	Higher
Ability to inhibit IFN production		Delayed recognition and proinflammatory response	Delayed recognition and proinflammatory response