Friday, September 06, 2013

Mackay On The Eurosurveillance MERS Antibodies In Camels Study

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Photo Credit Wikipedia

 

 

# 7735

 

Dr. Ian Mackay, in his Virology Down Under Blog takes an in-depth look at yesterday’s Eurosurveillance Journal report on the development of a safer (only requires a BSL-2 lab) pseudoparticle neutralization assay (ppNT) test specific to the spike protein of the MERS coronavirus.

 

Using this novel test (and comparing results to conventional microneutralization tests) researchers found a high prevalence (93.6%) of MERS-like antibodies in Egyptian camels, not unlike what we saw from Oman last month (see  Camels Found With Antibodies To MERS-CoV-Like Virus).

 

Follow the link below to read Dr. Mackay’s analysis.

 

More MERS molecular masterfulness: Egyptian camels contain lots of anti-MERS-CoV antbodies

 

The Eurosurveillance journal article may be read at:

 

Seroepidemiology for MERS coronavirus using microneutralisation and pseudoparticle virus neutralisation assays reveal a high prevalence of antibody in dromedary camels in Egypt, June 2013

 

by RA Perera, P Wang, MR Gomaa, R El-Shesheny, A Kandeil, O Bagato, LY Siu, MM Shehata, AS Kayed, Y Moatasim, M Li, LL Poon, Y Guan, RJ Webby, MA Ali, JS Peiris, G Kayali

 

You’ll find another excellent summary available from Robert Roos at CIDRAP.

 

Study reveals more signs of MERS-CoV in camels

Robert Roos | News Editor | CIDRAP News |

Sep 05, 2013

 

Note: I’m still away from my desk, and my blogging schedule will be limited until Sunday.  I would invite you to visit Crofsblog, Virology Down Under, and FluTrackers for the latest infection disease news.