MERS detections by month - Credit VDU Blog
# 8526
This morning Dr. Ian Mackay – Virologist, researcher, and editor of the VDU blog – takes a look at a report posted yesterday on Science Insider by Kai Kupferschmidt called Soaring MERS Cases Cause Pandemic Jitters, but Causes Are Unclear, that announces the results of some rapid genetic sequencing of the MERS virus from the Jeddah cluster.
Last week virologist Christian Drosten of the University of Bonn in Germany received 31 samples of the virus, and since then has sequenced (n=30) a subset of the genome (a section from the `spike protein’) – that, at least with the SARS virus – was considered probative for finding genetic changes of significance.
Early results found `nothing special’ to suggest an evolutionary change in the virus, but as we learn from Ian’s article, this isn’t the end of the story. As Ian underscores, there are a lot of different factors at play, and much more that needs to be learned.
Although some of this discussion is - by its very nature - a bit technical and the issues involved complex, Ian does a great job sorting things out. Follow the link to read:
Friday, 25 April 2014
With a new article at ScienceInsider written by Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape on Twitter)[1], it seems that the idea of a Spring start to human detections of MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia is gaining some support from other scientists.
