Daniel Payne, Ph.D., an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will discuss the challenges of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) during the Sparkman Global Health Lecture Series at noon Oct 29 in Ryals Building Room 407.
Payne, a graduate of UAB's School of Public Health, recently led a sero-epidemiologic field investigation of MERS-CoV in Jordan. He and Ministry of Health officials are attempting to trace the origin and control the spread of the coronavirus.
MERS can cause severe acute respiratory illness and death among about 30 percent of those infected; to date, the cases have been linked to countries in or near the Arabian Peninsula, according to the CDC website. A report by the World Health Organization called it a concern but not a public health emergency because there is "no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission."
