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It was my intent to write a long blog this morning about an EID Journal study, published yesterday, on the seroprevalence of MERS-like antibodies in camel blood samples taken a decade ago. I’m more than pleased to say that both Helen Branswell and Dr. Ian Mackay have both beaten me to it, saving me a good deal of effort and sparing countless electrons that I would have seriously inconvenienced in the process.
So, first a link to the study, then links to Helen’s and Ian’s reports.
Volume 20, Number 4—April 2014
Research
Antibodies against MERS Coronavirus in Dromedary Camels, United Arab Emirates, 2003 and 2013
Benjamin Meyer, Marcel A. Müller, Victor M. Corman, Chantal B.E.M. Reusken, Daniel Ritz, Gert-Jan Godeke, Erik Lattwein, Stephan Kallies, Artem Siemens, Janko van Beek, Jan F. Drexler, Doreen Muth, Berend-Jan Bosch, Ulrich Wernery, Marion P.G. Koopmans, Renate Wernery, and Christian Drosten
Abstract
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has caused an ongoing outbreak of severe acute respiratory tract infection in humans in the Arabian Peninsula since 2012. Dromedary camels have been implicated as possible viral reservoirs. We used serologic assays to analyze 651 dromedary camel serum samples from the United Arab Emirates; 151 of 651 samples were obtained in 2003, well before onset of the current epidemic, and 500 serum samples were obtained in 2013. Recombinant spike protein–specific immunofluorescence and virus neutralization tests enabled clear discrimination between MERS-CoV and bovine CoV infections. Most (632/651, 97.1%) camels had antibodies against MERS-CoV. This result included all 151 serum samples obtained in 2003. Most (389/651, 59.8%) serum samples had MERS-CoV–neutralizing antibody titers >1,280. Dromedary camels from the United Arab Emirates were infected at high rates with MERS-CoV or a closely related, probably conspecific, virus long before the first human MERS cases.
Helen Branswell’s report for the Canadian Press, provides a clear and concise overview, which you can read at:
MERS or similar virus has been spreading in camels for at least a decade: study
By Helen Branswell, The Canadian Press on January 2, 2014.
A new study provides the first evidence that MERS or a very similar virus has been spreading in camels in parts of the Middle East for at least a decade.
The research shows that stored blood samples taken from camels in 2003 all contain antibodies to the virus, or something close enough to MERS that antibody tests designed for MERS detect them.
And as a last stop, we get a Virologist’s take on all of this from Professor Ian Mackay, on his Virology Down Under Blog.
Friday, 3 January 2014
632 of 651 (97.1%) dromedary camel serum samples collected in 2003 and 2013 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been found to react with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) or key pieces thereof.
Meyer and colleagues from the Netherlands, Germany and the UAE also tested 16 control samples from German zoo camels but none reacted to MERS-CoV in their testing system. This indicates that the camels have not been infected by the MERS-CoV (or something very much like it) leading the authors to suggest that the virus is relatively isolated to Arabian peninsula's eastern edge...as far as we know from the testing performed to date.
While there are still more questions than answers when it comes to MERS-CoV, studies like this one can add substantially to our understanding of the emergence and the geographic spread of this virus.
Knowledge that is sorely needed if an effective containment strategy is to be designed and implemented.
