Dermatological Disorders Caused by Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

authors:

avatar Hai Err 1 , * , avatar Viroj Wiwanitkit 2

Medical Center, Sanitation 1 Medical Academic Center, Bangkok, Thailand
Tropical Medicine Unit, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China

how to cite: Err H, Wiwanitkit V. Dermatological Disorders Caused by Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. J Skin Stem Cell. 2015;2(3):e30817. https://doi.org/10.17795/jssc30817.

Dear Editor,

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a significant and emerging disease that has already spread from its initial origin in the Middle East to several areas around the world (1). MERS is a respiratory infection that causes acute illnesses that can rapidly lead to respiratory failure and death. There are also non-respiratory issues, such as dermatological disorders like petechiae as a result of thrombocytopenia, which can arise during cases of MERS (2). In fact, up to 36 % of MERS patients have been reported to have symptoms of thrombocytopenia in the past (3). Since some cases of MERS can present mild, unrecognized, or asymptomatic cases of thrombocytopenic petechiae (4), differential diagnoses of MERS should be considered during examinations of patients with petechiae.

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