That mystery is just one of many that shrouds the disease. MERS belongs to the coronavirus family that includes the common cold and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which caused global panic when it killed almost 800 people worldwide in 2002–2003. Because—like SARS—symptoms for MERS mirror influenza, it’s easy to misdiagnose and difficult to catch early enough to protect others from infected patients.
Three years later, Jordan’s infection control protocol is still in place. Abdallat has been sending out intermittent reminders of MERS’ symptoms to the country’s hospitals since that first Zarqa outbreak. One such notice went out only four days before a fresh outbreak hit Jordan last month, putting the country’s control system to the test again after eight months of being MERS-free.