Ahead of Print -MERS Coronavirus Neutralizing Antibodies in Camels, Eastern Africa, 1983–1997 - Volume 20, Number 12—December 2014 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

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Ahead of Print -MERS Coronavirus Neutralizing Antibodies in Camels, Eastern Africa, 1983–1997 - Volume 20, Number 12—December 2014 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

Volume 20, Number 12—December 2014

Dispatch

MERS Coronavirus Neutralizing Antibodies in Camels, Eastern Africa, 1983–1997

On This Page

• The Study
• Conclusions
• Suggested Citation

Figures

• Figure

Tables

• Table 1
• Table 2

Technical Appendicies

• Technical Appendix

Marcel A. Müller1 , Victor Max Corman1, Joerg Jores, Benjamin Meyer, Mario Younan, Anne Liljander, Berend-Jan Bosch, Erik Lattwein, Mosaad Hilali, Bakri E. Musa, Set Bornstein, and Christian Drosten

Author affiliations: University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany (M.A. Müller, V.M. Corman, B. Meyer, C. Drosten); German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Bonn (V.M. Corman); International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya (J. Jores, A. Liljander); Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Germany, Nairobi (M. Younan); Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands (B.-J. Bosch); EUROIMMUN AG, Lübeck, Germany (E. Lattwein); Cairo University, Giza, Egypt (M. Hilali); Ministry of Science and Communication, Khartoum, Sudan (B.E. Musa); National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden (S. Bornstein)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

To analyze the distribution of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)–seropositive dromedary camels in eastern Africa, we tested 189 archived serum samples accumulated during the past 30 years. We identified MERS-CoV neutralizing antibodies in 81.0% of samples from the main camel-exporting countries, Sudan and Somalia, suggesting long-term virus circulation in these animals.

Since 2012, a newly emerged human pathogenic coronavirus (CoV) has caused an ongoing epidemic on the Arabian Peninsula. The designated Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV belongs to theBetacoronavirus genus lineage C and causes severe respiratory disease in humans (1). As of July 2, 2014, MERS-CoV has caused ≈842 human infections, including 322 deaths (2). Dromedary camels are a putative source for MERS-CoV infection in humans. Dromedaries from countries in Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya) and Arabia (United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Jordan) have shown high rates of MERS-CoV seropositivity in serum samples collected during the past 2 decades (3–9). In addition, MERS-CoV nucleotide sequences and virus were detected in respiratory swab samples, predominantly from juvenile dromedaries (5,10). Transmission between humans and camels has been described in Qatar and Saudi Arabia (11,12). No autochthonous MERS-CoV infections in humans have been reported in Africa. Most dromedary camels traded in the Middle East are bred in the Greater Horn of Africa, primarily in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Kenya (13). To further analyze the spatial and temporal distribution of MERS-CoV–seropositive camels, we tested archived camel serum samples originating in Egypt, Sudan, and Somalia, accumulated during the past 30 years, for MERS-CoV antibodies.

Dr Müller is staff scientist at the Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre. His current research is dedicated to developing serologic detection methods for emerging viruses and in-depth molecular studies focusing on virus–host interactions.

Acknowledgments

We thank Stephan Kallies, Monika Eschbach-Bludau, Sebastian Brünink, Tobias Bleicker, and Andrea Sieberg for excellent technical assistance. We are grateful to Tasnim Suliman for critical reading of the manuscript. We thank Fatuma M. Jama and all camel owners and herdsmen for their support during field work.

The work was funded by the European Commission (FP7-EMPERIE no. 223498, FP7-ANTIGONE no. 278976) and the German Research Foundation (DFG grant DR772/3-1 to C.D.). This work was supported by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. The Centrum of International Migration (CIM) supported A.L. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

References

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Figure

• Figure. Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries of the Greater Horn of Africa in 2014. The study sites Egypt, Sudan (separated into Sudan and South Sudan), and Somalia are in dark orange...

Tables

• Table 1. MERS-CoV antibodies in dromedary camels from eastern Africa
• Table 2. MERS-CoV neutralizing antibody titers in dromedary camels from eastern Africa

Technical Appendix

• Technical Appendix. Determination of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) recombinant ELISA (rELISA) cutoff and correlation of the MERS-CoV rELISA and the virus neutralization test.  77 KB

Suggested citation for this article: Müller MA, Corman VM, Jores J, Meyer B, Younan M, Liljander A, et al. MERS coronavirus neutralizing antibodies in camels, eastern Africa, 1983–1997. Emerg Infect Dis [Internet]. 2014 Dec [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2012.141026

DOI: 10.3201/eid2012.141026

1These authors contributed equally to this article.