Are Saudi medical students aware of middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus during an outbreak?

SummaryRecently, an outbreak of MERS-CoV occurred in King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh. This outbreak contributed to the students at the King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) becoming more involved in promoting health awareness in their communities.This was a cross-sectional study that evaluated students in the clinical phase of medical school. The data were collected by an online questionnaire. The measurements were obtained using a researcher-administered and a self-reported questionnaire that had been previously validated. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.One hundred and thirty-six students participated and showed good awareness regarding the clinical aspects of MERS, such as etiology, diagnosis, management, and prevention. However, 76% of the students were not aware of the mortality rate. Conversely, this study uncovered a low level of awareness in the basic sciences. Interestingly, fifth year medical students were more familiar with the incubation period than final year students (p-value <0.05). Regarding gender differences, more female students were knowledgeable about the incubation period and the possible asymptomatic presentation of the disease than male students (p-value