OmniVira

Evidence for camel-to-human transmission of MERS coronavirus.

Esam I Azhar1 Sherif A El-Kafrawy Suha A Farraj Ahmed M Hassan Muneera S Al-Saeed Anwar M Hashem Tariq A Madani
Affiliations 1 institutions
  1. From the Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences (E.I.A.), Special Infectious Agents Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Center (E.I.A., S.A.E., S.A.F., A.M. Hassan, M.S.A., A.M. Hashem), and the Departments of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology (A.M. Hashem) and Medicine (T.A.M.), Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
PMID24896817 DOI10.1056/NEJMoa1401505 Year2014 Journal The New England journal of medicine N Engl J Med Languageeng Statusppublish

Abstract

We describe the isolation and sequencing of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) obtained from a dromedary camel and from a patient who died of laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection after close contact with camels that had rhinorrhea. Nasal swabs collected from the patient and from one of his nine camels were positive for MERS-CoV RNA. In addition, MERS-CoV was isolated from the patient and the camel. The full genome sequences of the two isolates were identical. Serologic data indicated that MERS-CoV was circulating in the camels but not in the patient before the human infection occurred. These data suggest that this fatal case of human MERS-CoV infection was transmitted through close contact with an infected camel.

Supporting text Virus Host Location
Adult 71 Animals 1948 Camelus 39 Coronavirus 92 Coronavirus Infections 171 Genome, Viral 317 Humans 1440 Male 224 Middle East 7 Nose 8 Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction 35 RNA, Viral 193 Saudi Arabia 13 Zoonoses 397

Evidence records

6 total
Zoonotic Surveillance
4 records · 3 evidence types
Evidence type Virus Isolation
2 records
Evidence type Viral Detection
1 records
Evidence type Serological Evidence
1 records
OVE11525 Serological Evidence
Key finding

Serologic results showed MERS‑CoV antibody positivity in camels but not in the human patient, indicating prior viral circulation among camels before human infection.

Virus
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus
Host
Camelus Natural host human Homo sapiens Natural host
Location
Not specified
Supporting text

Serologic data indicated that MERS-CoV was circulating in the camels but not in the patient before the human infection occurred.

Method
serologic testing
Sample type
serum
Transmission Evidence
1 records · 1 evidence types
Evidence type Spillover Event
1 records
OVE11526 Spillover Event
Key finding

A fatal human MERS-CoV infection was transmitted through close contact with an infected camel, indicating a natural camel-to-human spillover event.

Virus
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus
Host
human Homo sapiens Natural host Camelus Natural host
Location
Not specified
Supporting text

These data suggest that this fatal case of human MERS-CoV infection was transmitted through close contact with an infected camel.

Method
virus isolation | genome sequencing | serologic testing
Study design
case investigation with viral isolation and genomic comparison
Transmission direction
animal-to-human
Genomic Evolution
1 records · 1 evidence types
Evidence type Phylogenetic Evolution
1 records
OVE11524 Phylogenetic Evolution
Key finding

Full genome phylogenetic comparison showed that MERS-CoV isolates from the infected camel and the human patient had identical sequences.

Virus
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus
Host
Camelus Natural host human Homo sapiens Natural host
Location
Not specified
Supporting text

We describe the isolation and sequencing of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) obtained from a dromedary camel and from a patient who died of laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection after close contact with camels that had rhinorrhea. The full genome sequences of the two isolates were identical.

Genes or proteins
full genome
Analysis methods
full genome sequencing | phylogenetic comparison