About 40 percent of the people who contract the newly emerging Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) will die during the course of the infection. Given the recent increase of diagnosed cases in the Middle East (which recently has surged above 400 cases) and the lack of vaccines and therapeutics, researchers are eager to discover new therapeutics that prevent virus entry into the cells, block replication and reduce morbidity and mortality. A new study from University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University, describes a novel panel of human monoclonal antibodies that bind to the virus and prevent infection.