Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was first detected in a patient living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in September 2012 . As of 20 August 2014, 855 laboratoryconfirmed cases of human infection have been reported to public health authorities worldwide, including 333 deaths. Most of the cases (97.5%) have occurred in the Middle East (KSA, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, and Iran), with 723 cases alone reported from KSA. In all 21 cases that have been reported outside the Middle East (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Algeria, Malaysia, Philippines, United States), the patients had lived in or traveled to the Middle East, or had contact with travelers returning from these areas.