Study of the Clinical and Radiologic findings of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Coronavirus Disease-2019

Aim and Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (SARS-CoV-2) is a single-strand RNA, β‐coronavirus with mostly respiratory symptoms responsible for Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19), which causes a pandemic worldwide. This novel coronavirus is associated with severe pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) is another type of coronavirus which arise from Saudi Arabia and cause a regional epidemic. Despite some common features, COVID-19 demonstrates few discrepancies in terms of clinical and Computed Tomography (CT) characteristics that are yet to fully comprehend.  Method: For identifying related studies, a search through Google Scholar, PubMed, and Web of Science has been conducted, and as of May 2020, 30 studies have been found using these keywords: “COVID-19,” “MERS-CoV,” “Computed Tomography,” “Chest findings.” Non-English entries, as well as studies related to SARS were excluded, and finally, 21 studies were included in this study.  Result: On the first glimpse, COVID-19 seems to have a much lower mortality rate from MERS, which is 2.3% for COVID-19 and 34/4% for MERS. Ground Glass Opacity (GGO), peripheral consolidation, and GGO superimposed with consolidation were the most common radiologic findings in MERS and COVID-19. Fever, cough, headache, and sore throat were the most prevalent clinical symptoms of the diseases followed by dyspnea and ARDS in severe courses.  Conclusion: Both COVID-19 and MERS hast mostly the same clinical manifestation, no meaningful statistical differences in the mean number of chest CT findings were seen among MERS and COVID-19 cases except for pleural effusion