Transmission electron micrograph of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome CoV particles found near the periphery of an infected MRC-5 cell. The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), also termed EMC/2012 (HCoV-EMC/2012), is positive-sense, single-stranded RNA novel species of the genus Betacoronavirus. First called novel coronavirus 2012 or simply novel coronavirus, it was first reported in 2012 after genome sequencing of a virus isolated from sputum samples from patients who fell ill in a 2012 outbreak of a new flu. As of June 2014, MERS-CoV cases have been reported in 22 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Jordan, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Almost all cases are somehow linked to Saudi Arabia. The MRC-5 cell line is commonly utilized in vaccine development, as a transfection host in virology research, and for in vitro cytotoxicity testing. The cell line was derived from normal lung tissue of a 14 week old male fetus by J.P. Jacobs in September of 1966.