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Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/mers-virus-from-camels-and-humans-called-indistinguishable-1.2625624
MERS virus from camels and humans called indistinguishable
If infections were coming directly from camels, more disease would be expected in workers
CBC News Posted: Apr 29, 2014 12:57 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 29, 2014 2:29 PM ET
...Now scientists have grown the virus from nasal swabs of two dromedaries in Saudi Arabia, genetically sequenced it and found it was an "indistinguishable" match to MERS coronavirus found in humans ? an indication that the virus in the animals is capable of infecting humans.
"Together with data indicating widespread dromedary infection in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, these findings support the plausibility of a role for dromedaries in human infection," Thomas Briese, associate director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University in New York and his co-authors concluded in Tuesday?s online issue of the journal mBio, published by the American Society for Microbiology.
The finding strengthens the argument that the camels are a reservoir for the virus, Briese said.
"We have evidence going back as far as the early 1990s that this virus has been in camels. Human cases didn't start till 2012. So one very important question is what happened that caused this virus to cause severe disease in humans, noticeable disease in humans for the first time in 2012?" said Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto?s Mount Sinai Hospital who has helped investigate the new virus in Saudi Arabia as part of a World Health Organization-led team.
Veterinarian Dr. Ehab Al-Shabori in Riyadh said everything is normal among camels.
"If it were risky or there were any problems, we would have received an alert or brochures," Al-Shabori said in Arabic to Reuters. "We would have witnessed cases infected with coronavirus. But there is nothing."
If the infections were coming directly from the camels, you would expect disease in the people who work more closely with camels, but that?s not what scientists are seeing, McGeer said.
"So you can speculate about a number of different explanations for why it's true, but we clearly need to understand what's happening and how it's happening."...
MERS virus from camels and humans called indistinguishable
If infections were coming directly from camels, more disease would be expected in workers
CBC News Posted: Apr 29, 2014 12:57 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 29, 2014 2:29 PM ET
...Now scientists have grown the virus from nasal swabs of two dromedaries in Saudi Arabia, genetically sequenced it and found it was an "indistinguishable" match to MERS coronavirus found in humans ? an indication that the virus in the animals is capable of infecting humans.
"Together with data indicating widespread dromedary infection in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, these findings support the plausibility of a role for dromedaries in human infection," Thomas Briese, associate director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University in New York and his co-authors concluded in Tuesday?s online issue of the journal mBio, published by the American Society for Microbiology.
The finding strengthens the argument that the camels are a reservoir for the virus, Briese said.
"We have evidence going back as far as the early 1990s that this virus has been in camels. Human cases didn't start till 2012. So one very important question is what happened that caused this virus to cause severe disease in humans, noticeable disease in humans for the first time in 2012?" said Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto?s Mount Sinai Hospital who has helped investigate the new virus in Saudi Arabia as part of a World Health Organization-led team.
Veterinarian Dr. Ehab Al-Shabori in Riyadh said everything is normal among camels.
"If it were risky or there were any problems, we would have received an alert or brochures," Al-Shabori said in Arabic to Reuters. "We would have witnessed cases infected with coronavirus. But there is nothing."
If the infections were coming directly from the camels, you would expect disease in the people who work more closely with camels, but that?s not what scientists are seeing, McGeer said.
"So you can speculate about a number of different explanations for why it's true, but we clearly need to understand what's happening and how it's happening."...
