Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Evidence from a next generation sequencing study suggests that camels are a reservoir of the MERS virus and a significant source of human infections.
Asian Scientist Newsroom | December 30, 2015
AsianScientist (Dec. 28, 2015) - An international research team has revealed that the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus has become enzootic in dromedary camels in Saudi Arabia and diverged into five distinct lineages, as reported in Science. Additionally, the researchers report that the viruses that led to the Korean outbreak and the recent human infections in the Middle East were from lineage 5 and generated by recombination between viruses of lineages 3 and 4. Also reported were two other coronaviruses co-circulating with the MERS coronavirus in the camels, including one closely related to the human 229E coronavirus that causes common colds in humans. Co-infections of these different coronavirus species were frequently detected in camels, with over half of the MERS coronavirus-positive camels also carrying at least one of the other coronaviruses.
Read more from Asian Scientist Magazine at: http://www.asianscientist.com/2015/1...inant-variant/
Link to study: Co-circulation of three camel coronavirus species and recombination of MERS-CoVs in Saudi Arabia
Asian Scientist Newsroom | December 30, 2015
AsianScientist (Dec. 28, 2015) - An international research team has revealed that the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus has become enzootic in dromedary camels in Saudi Arabia and diverged into five distinct lineages, as reported in Science. Additionally, the researchers report that the viruses that led to the Korean outbreak and the recent human infections in the Middle East were from lineage 5 and generated by recombination between viruses of lineages 3 and 4. Also reported were two other coronaviruses co-circulating with the MERS coronavirus in the camels, including one closely related to the human 229E coronavirus that causes common colds in humans. Co-infections of these different coronavirus species were frequently detected in camels, with over half of the MERS coronavirus-positive camels also carrying at least one of the other coronaviruses.
Read more from Asian Scientist Magazine at: http://www.asianscientist.com/2015/1...inant-variant/
Link to study: Co-circulation of three camel coronavirus species and recombination of MERS-CoVs in Saudi Arabia