Searching for an animal reservoir of the novel coronavirus hCoV-EMC

Laidback Al · May 30, 2013

Searching for an animal reservoir of the novel conoravirus hCoV-EMC, May 31, 2013
Laidback Al, Senior Moderator, www.FluTrackers.com

The first human infections of a novel coronavirus (nCoV) were identified in late of 2012. The coronavirus was later named hCoV-EMC based on genetic analysis at the Erasmus Medical Center (link). More recently, the Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses labeled this coronavirus as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) (link) and the World Health Organization (WHO) has accepted the label MERS-CoV for hCoV-EMC (link).

Through May 29, 2013, more than 40 nCoV cases have been reported from seven countries; France, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Currently the fatality rate is about .5 for infected individuals. Among the reported cases, there are at least seven clusters of cases some with evidence of limited human-to human transmission. These clusters include hospital workers in Jordan, a family in Ar Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a family in the United Kingdom, two individuals in an unknown location in Saudi Arabia, a large cluster of 22 individuals mostly from Al Hofuf in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, two individuals from France, and within the past few days a family from Tunisia.

The nature of the transmission is uncertain, but some of these infections are occurring in hospital settings; several health care workers have been infected. Three of these clusters, one from France, one from Tunisia, and one from the United Kingdom, occurred outside of the Middle East region. The index cases in all three of these clusters had previously visited countries within the Arabian Peninsula. The index cases of other clusters, as well as other individual isolated cases, were all apparently infected in the geographic area of the Arabian Peninsula.

Although the animal reservoir for this coronavirus has not yet been identified, the geographic distribution of location of initial infection indicates that the reservoir for this is coronavirus is located on the Arabian Peninsula. Genetic research suggests that the animal reservoir for nCoV, like SARS-CoV, may be a species of bat. Because Saudi Arabia has reported the most nCoV cases, and because it occupies a great percentage of the Arabian Peninsula, bat species in Saudi Arabia should be evaluated as potential hosts for this coronavirus.
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SARS-CoV and HCoV-EMC/2012 (nCoV)

SARS-CoV is a coronavirus that infected more than 8000 people from 2002-2003, with more than 700 deaths worldwide. Although SARS-CoV was initial identified in palm civets, later research indicated that the Chinese horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus) was the most likely host organism with the civets acting as an intermediate amplification host (link). The Chinese horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus) is one of approximately 77 bat species included in a single genus of Rhinolophus in the family RHINOLOPHIDAE.

In November 2012, a team of virologists from the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands identified a novel betacorona virus, hCoV-EMC/2012, that had infected at least two people. The Erasmus Medical Center researchers determined that that this coronavirus was most closely related to two coronaviruses found in vesper and pipistrelle bats (family VESPERTILIONIDAE). The researchers indicate that the closest match of hCoV-EMC/2012 is the coronavirus BtCoV-HKU5 from Japanese house bats (Pipistrellus abramus) (link). The authors comment that ?it is tempting to speculate that HCoV-EMC/2012 emerged from bats?either directly or via an intermediate animal host, possibly Pipistrellus bats. This bat species is known to be present in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries.? (link) The identification of the Chinese horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus) as a host reservoir for SARS-CoV and the discovery by the Erasmus Medical Center Team that nCoV is related to coronaviruses found in VESPERTILIONIDAE bat family provides a basis for considering bats as the host organism for nCoV in the Arabian Peninsula.

Possible bat species as nCoV reservoirs on the Arabian Peninsula

Because Saudi Arabia has reported the most nCoV cases, and because it occupies a great percentage of the Arabian Peninsula, bat species in Saudi Arabia should be evaluated as potential hosts for this coronavirus. More than 30 species of bats have been identified in a 2003 report on the bats of Saudi Arabia. A review of the geographic distribution of these species on the Arabian Peninsula, in comparison with bat species from Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan where other nCoV cases have been reported, suggests that species from three families, HIPPOSIDERIDAE, RHINOLOPHIDAE, and VESPERTILIONIDAE, should be considered as possible nCoV reservoirs in the region.

There are four bat species, Asellia tridens, Otonycteris hemprichii, Pipistrellus kuhlii, and Rhinolophus clivosus in countries on the Arabian Peninsula that could be animal sources of nCoV. All of these species are from the sub order of Microchiroptera. These small bats are generally insectivorous but some leaf-nose bats in this suborder are known to eat fruit (link). Pipistrellus arabicus and Pipistrellus ariel are not included in the potential list because of their limited geographic distribution on the Arabian Peninsula.

Species Distribution Information

Asellia tridens
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Searching for an animal reservoir of the novel coronavirus hCoV-EMC

Laidback Al

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