Differences in the seasonality of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus and influenza in the Middle East

Int J Infect Dis. 2015 Nov:40:15-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2015.09.012. Epub 2015 Sep 28.

¹ Department of Applied Mathematics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. Electronic address: hedaihai@gmail.com.
² Department of Applied Mathematics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
³ WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.

Abstract

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It was found that the first two major waves of weekly laboratory confirmations of MERS-CoV cases closely followed the seasonal epidemic waves of influenza A in the Middle East.
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This finding is important to revealing the mechanisms behind the seasonality of MERS-CoV in the Middle East.