A Rare Glimpse of MERS

What am I looking at?

This is a colored scanning electron microscopy image of a Vero E6 cell – a cell line isolated from the kidney of a certain kind of monkey – that’s been infected with the MERS coronavirus. The virus particles are green (1) and the host cell is red (2).

Biology in the background

MERS is a relatively new disease in humans; the first case was diagnosed in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Subsequent research established that the virus had been passed from dromedary camels to humans. This is a rare disease, with only 2,610 confirmed cases reported from the fall of 2022 through the fall of 2023.

The symptoms of MERS are similar to those of other coronavirus infections; they include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. There is no vaccine against MERS and no antiviral that’s been proven effective against it, but its symptoms can often be managed successfully in a hospital setting.

A MERS virus particle is about 0.8 micrometers across, or roughly 90 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Technique

This image was created using electron microscopy.