MERS

• (respiratory syndrome): Mers

• (General American) IPA^(key): /mɝz/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɜːz/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)z

MERS (uncountable)

1. (medicine) Acronym of Middle East respiratory syndrome.
   • 2020 January 24, Denise Grady, “Chicago woman is second patient in U.S. with Wuhan coronavirus”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Coronaviruses are worrying because epidemics caused by other members of the viral family, SARS and MERS, have had high death rates: 10 percent for SARS, and about 35 percent for MERS.

   • 2025 February 25, Jen Christiensen, “Scientists have identified a new coronavirus in bats, but it’s not a public health threat”, in CNN‎:

     “Even the researchers themselves point out that this should not cause panic,” said Roess, a professor of global health and epidemiology at George Mason University’s College of Public Health who has worked with international colleagues to better understand the MERS coronavirus.

2. (loosely) Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus
   • 2015 June 4, Donald G. McNeil Jr., “What You Need to Know About MERS”, in The New York Times:

     Because MERS is a virus, antibiotics are ineffective.

   • 2015 July 2, “Mers: The new coronavirus explained”, in BBC News:

     Mers is a virus that is transmitted from animals to humans.

   • 2017, Randal W. Summers, “Application: Epidemics and the Epidemic Fear They Bring”, in Randal W. Summers, editor, Social Psychology: How Other People Influence Our Thoughts and Actions, page 470:

     MERS is a coronavirus for which there is no cure.

Although the term MERS is occasionally used to refer to the virus rather than the syndrome, this is generally considered an error, and is usually the result of using the term loosely.

• (coronavirus): MERS-CoV

• MERS-CoV (acronym)

• SARS, genetically similar
• COVID-19, genetically similar

• REMs, SERM, REMS, MRSE, MSER, rems, MSer, Rems, MREs, S&Mer, ERMs