Camels May Transmit New Corona Virus

[Gert van der Hoek]

Camels May Transmit New Middle Eastern Virus
2013-08-08

Carrier camels. Scientists have found antibodies against MERS virus in racing camels. Such animals could be the source of human infections, they say.

Ever since people in the Middle East started dying of a mysterious new infection last year, scientists have been trying to pinpoint the source of the outbreak. Now they may finally have found a clue in an unlikely population: retired racing camels.

The Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus has sickened 94 people so far and killed 46 of them. While some patients have clearly been infected by others, there are also cases who have been nowhere near a known patient. So scientists suspect that one or more animal species harbor the virus and are transmitting it to people.

As expected, several animals had antibodies against OC43 in their blood, and none carried antibodies against SARS. But 50 dromedary camels from Oman that were tested all had antibodies against the MERS virus, the scientists report today in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (This link will be live after 6:30 pm U.S. Eastern time.) "There is something circulating in dromedary camels that looks very much like MERS coronavirus," Koopmans says. The camels are all female retired racing camels used for breeding, but they belong to different owners in separate locations.

sciencemag

[sharon sanders]

Re: Camels May Transmit New Corona Virus

Thursday, August 08, 2013

Lancet: Camels Found With Antibodies To MERS-CoV-Like Virus



Photo Credit Wikipedia

Note: The lancet report in this post was originally embargoed until 6:30 pm EDT today, but after an embargo break this morning by a UK newspaper (subsequently pulled), and follow up reportage by the AP and others, the Lancet announced late this afternoon that the embargo is now rescinded.

# 7554

One of the mysteries surrounding the MERS coronavirus is exactly where it comes from. It is believed that it resides in some probably asymptomatic, but as yet unidentified animal host, and that it has only recently `jumped species? to infect mankind.

Bats have been strongly suspected as being the main animal reservoir, but it is thought that a secondary (possibly amplifying) host, may have played a role in its spillover into humans.

In The Lancet tonight, we?ve the first serological evidence showing the the existence of antibodies that indicate prior exposure to MERS-CoV or to a MERS-like virus in Middle Eastern camels.

Led by by Dr Chantal Reusken, of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven (the Netherlands), an international team of researchers analyzed 349 blood samples collected from various livestock species (including goats, sheep, cattle, & camels) from Oman, the Netherlands, Spain, and Chile.

They tested not only for antibodies specific to the emerging MERS coronavirus, but for antibodies to the 2003 SARS coronavirus, and the most commonly reported human coronavirus (HCoV-OC43) which is antigenically similar to a common bovine coronavirus.

Along the way they found no evidence of cross-reactivity between the MER-CoV, SARS, and HCoV-OC43 viruses. Making it unlikely that prior exposure to other coronaviruses would produce false positive reactions to the MERS-CoV specific antibody test.

While no MERS-CoV antibodies were detected among the 160 cattle, sheep, and goat samples gathered from the Netherlands and Spain, specific antibodies to the MERS coronavirus were detected in all 50 of the dromedary camel samples gathered (from multiple locations) in Oman.

Additionally, much lower levels of antibodies were detected in 14% of camels from two dromedary herds tested from the Canary Islands.

This indicates is that MERS-CoV or a very similar virus, has infected dromedary populations in the Middle East in the recent past. The finding of very high antibody titers and 100% seroprevalence among Omani camels is actually quite remarkable.

What role (if any) that camels play in the transmission of the virus to humans has not been established. There may well be other animal hosts, not yet identified, that also carry the virus in the region.

Today?s study adds incrementally to what we already know (or think we know) about this virus, but we are still a long way from understanding it.

The authors call for additional studies to confirm their findings and to establish their possible relevance to human MERS-CoV infections.

For more on this, Helen Branswell?s report is now online, which you can read at:

Scientists find MERS antibodies in camels

By Helen Branswell The Canadian Press

And Jennifer Yang, has excellent coverage as well:

Coronavirus spreading in Middle East may be linked to camels

The Middle East respiratory syndrome ? or MERS ? has now infected 94 people and killed 46. Camels are being considered as a possible culprit.

The link to the Lancet report has not yet gone live. When it does, I?ll update this blog post.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus neutralising serum antibodies in dromedary camels: a comparative serological study

Chantal B E M Reusken*, Bart L Haagmans*, Marcel A M?ller*, Carlos Gutierrez, Gert-Jan Godeke, Benjamin Meyer, Doreen Muth, V Stalin Raj, Laura Smits-De Vries, Victor M Corman, Jan-Felix Drexler, Saskia L Smits, Yasmin E El Tahir, Rita De Sousa, Janko van Beek, Norbert Nowotny, Kees van Maanen, Ezequiel Hidalgo-Hermoso, Berend-Jan Bosch, Peter Rottier, Albert Osterhaus, Christian Gort?zar-Schmidt, Christian Drosten, Marion P G Koopmans

Posted by Michael Coston at <a class="timestamp-link" href="http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2013/08/lancet-camels-found-with-antibodies-to.html" rel="bookmark" title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" title="2013-08-08T16:58:00-04:00">4:58 PM</abbr>

[Giuseppe]

Re: Camels May Transmit New Corona Virus

[Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases, full page: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]


The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Early Online Publication, 9 August 2013
doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(13)70164-6

Copyright ? 2013 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus neutralising serum antibodies in dromedary camels: a comparative serological study

Original Text


Chantal BEM Reusken PhD a?, Bart L Haagmans PhD b ?, Marcel A M?ller PhD c ?, Prof Carlos Gutierrez PhD d, Gert-Jan Godeke BSc a, Benjamin Meyer MSc c, Doreen Muth PhD c, V Stalin Raj PhD b, Laura Smits-De Vries MSc e, Victor M Corman MD c, Jan-Felix Drexler MD c, Saskia L Smits PhD b m, Yasmin E El Tahir PhD f, Rita De Sousa PhD a h, Janko van Beek MSc a, Prof Norbert Nowotny PhD g i, Kees van Maanen PhD j, Ezequiel Hidalgo-Hermoso DVM k, Berend-Jan Bosch PhD e, Prof Peter Rottier PhD e, Prof Albert Osterhaus PhD b m, Christian Gort?zar-Schmidt PhD l, Prof Christian Drosten MD c, Prof Marion PG Koopmans PhD a b


Summary

Background

A new betacoronavirus?Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)?has been identified in patients with severe acute respiratory infection. Although related viruses infect bats, molecular clock analyses have been unable to identify direct ancestors of MERS-CoV. Anecdotal exposure histories suggest that patients had been in contact with dromedary camels or goats. We investigated possible animal reservoirs of MERS-CoV by assessing specific serum antibodies in livestock.


Methods

We took sera from animals in the Middle East (Oman) and from elsewhere (Spain, Netherlands, Chile). Cattle (n=80), sheep (n=40), goats (n=40), dromedary camels (n=155), and various other camelid species (n=34) were tested for specific serum IgG by protein microarray using the receptor-binding S1 subunits of spike proteins of MERS-CoV, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, and human coronavirus OC43. Results were confirmed by virus neutralisation tests for MERS-CoV and bovine coronavirus.


Findings

50 of 50 (100%) sera from Omani camels and 15 of 105 (14%) from Spanish camels had protein-specific antibodies against MERS-CoV spike. Sera from European sheep, goats, cattle, and other camelids had no such antibodies. MERS-CoV neutralising antibody titres varied between 1/320 and 1/2560 for the Omani camel sera and between 1/20 and 1/320 for the Spanish camel sera. There was no evidence for cross-neutralisation by bovine coronavirus antibodies.


Interpretation

MERS-CoV or a related virus has infected camel populations. Both titres and seroprevalences in sera from different locations in Oman suggest widespread infection.


Funding

European Union, European Centre For Disease Prevention and Control, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
_________

a Centre for Infectious Disease Research, Diagnostics and Screening, Division Virology, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands; b Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands; c Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany; d Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Veterinary Faculty, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain; e Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Utrecht University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht, Netherlands; f Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman; g Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman; h The European Programme for Public Health Microbiology Training, European Center for Disease Control, Stockholm, Sweden; i Viral Zoonoses, Emerging and Vector-Borne Infections Group, Institute of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria; j Animal Health Service, Deventer, Netherlands; k Department of Conservation and Research, Parque Zoologico Buin Zoo, Buin, Chile; l SaBio-IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ciudad Real, Spain; m Viroclinics Biosciences BV, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Correspondence to: Chantal Reusken, Centre for Infectious Disease Research, Diagnostics and Screening, Division Virology, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720BA, Bilthoven, Netherlands

? Contributed equally


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[Giuseppe]

Re: Camels May Transmit New Corona Virus

[Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases, full page: (LINK). Extract.]

The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Early Online Publication, 9 August 2013
doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(13)70193-2

Copyright ? 2013 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

MERS-CoV: the intermediate host identified?

Original Text

Emmie de Wit a, Vincent J Munster b
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As of Aug 2, 2013, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has caused 94 human cases?with most having severe respiratory disease?46 of these patients have died. Cases have been reported in Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and Tunisia. All cases detected outside the Arabian peninsula were linked to one of the Middle Eastern countries, either as a result of travel to those countries or through transmission from a person thought to h ...

(?)
_________

a Disease Modeling and Transmission Unit, Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Hamilton, MT, USA; b Virus Ecology Unit, Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Hamilton, MT, USA


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