Photo Credit NIAID
# 7316
A report from AFP this morning indicates that the Saudis have collected, and will now ship to labs in the United States, samples collected from a variety of animals that might be carriers of the emerging MERS Coronavirus.
First a link to the report, then I’ll be back with more.
Friday, 24 May 2013 KSA 16:23 - GMT 13:23
Saudi to send animal samples to U.S. in coronavirus probe
AFP, Geneva -
Saudi Arabia said Friday it would send samples taken from animals possibly infected with a deadly SARS-like virus to the United States for testing in a bid to find the source of disease.
The Saudi health ministry has “collected large samples from bats and other animals, including camels, sheep and cats,” said Saudi Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish.
One of the keys to containing the MERS virus is determining from where, and how, it is spilling over into humans.
Early on, bats have been suspected (see EID Journal: EMC/2012–related Coronaviruses in Bats and mBio: New Coronavirus Linked To Bats), since similar viruses have been detected in these winged mammals – but so far, no direct evidence of a primary animal host has been found.
There is also the possibility of multiple hosts species, or – perhaps more likely – a primary and one or more intermediate (or amplifying) host species (see mBio: Coronavirus Has An Affinity For Multiple Hosts).
At this point, the field of suspects is wide open, and nailing this down is of utmost importance.
So this newfound willingness on the part of the Saudis to share more samples for testing would be a welcome move in the right direction.
