SARS, MERS and CoVID-19: An overview and comparison of clinical, laboratory and radiological features.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing previously published literature without systematic search methods.
PubMed 35309670 · doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_839_21
What was done
The authors conducted a narrative review summarizing and comparing the biochemical properties, clinical characteristics, laboratory features, and radiological manifestations of three pathogenic coronaviruses: SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).
What was found
The abstract reports historical case fatality rates across the three viral outbreaks: 9.5% for SARS, 34.4% for MERS, and 2.13% for COVID-19. The authors note that while all three belong to the same family and share broad characteristics, distinct differences exist across their biochemical, laboratory, and radiological presentations. Specific numeric values for laboratory or imaging findings were not provided in the abstract.
Why it matters
Synthesizing the clinical, diagnostic, and epidemiological differences among major coronavirus outbreaks helps clinicians understand variable disease presentations and informs future public health response planning.
Limits
This is an unsystematic narrative overview rather than a formal systematic review or meta-analysis; search methodology, study inclusion criteria, and study count are not detailed in the abstract. Numerical data in the abstract are restricted to broad case fatality rates without confidence intervals or population adjustments.
Cited by
- contradicts SARS had a case fatality rate of 10% and MERS had a case fatality rate of 20%.