Camel with MERS-CoV had signs of illness

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Camel with MERS-CoV had signs of illness

Photo: RIA Novosti

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) has been found in a camel from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The first case of an animal infected with the coronavirus that has killed 64 people worldwide, the Ministry of Health said Monday. A statement was also issued by the ministry reporting that the camel “tested positive in preliminary laboratory checks.”

The ministry is to work closely with the ministry of agriculture to “isolate the virus and compare its genetic structure with that of the patient’s.” Should the virus carried by both the camel and those infected “prove to be identical, this would be a first scientific discovery worldwide, and a door to identify the source of the virus,” it was added.

The World Health Organization claims on its website that there have already been 153 laboratory-confirmed cases of the MERS virus globally worldwide, with 64 of those cases ending in death.

Voice of Russia, Arabnews.com

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Camel with MERS-CoV had signs of illness

Robert Roos | News Editor | CIDRAP News

Nov 12, 2013

A camel that might have passed the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) to its Saudi Arabian owner had signs of illness, a Saudi health official said today in revealing a little more information about the situation.
Saudi officials reported yesterday that a camel had tested positive for MERS-CoV, a few days after its owner, a 43-year-old man from Jeddah, was confirmed to have the virus. The case marks the first time of the virus has been found in an animal.
In a ProMED-mail post today, Ziad A. Memish, MD, the Saudi deputy minister for public health, wrote, "Camels owned by the patient which were symptomatic with fever and rhinorrhea were tested for MERS-CoV and tested positive." ProMED-mail is the online reporting service of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.
Memish added, "This is the first time that a camel related to a case tests positive for MERS-CoV by PCR. Further testing is ongoing to sequence the patient [virus] and the camel virus and compare genetic similarity level to conclude causality."
He also said the 43-year-old patient, who has no underlying chronic diseases, is still in an intensive care unit.
His comments left it unclear whether more than one camel tested positive for the virus. Today the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) posted an English-language version of yesterday's Arabic statement about the findings, which said, "The initial laboratory test conducted on one of those animals was positive."
Recent studies revealed that camels in Oman, the Canary Islands, and Egypt carried antibodies suggesting past exposure to MERS-CoV or a closely related virus, but the Saudi report marks the first finding of the virus itself in an animal.

Search for animal source

Scientists have been searching for the animal reservoir and immediate source of MERS-CoV since the virus was discovered in September 2012. Bats and camels have been suspected to harbor the virus, and this week's report supports the view that camels may pass the virus to humans.
Contact with domestic animals has been cited in a few previous MERS-CoV cases. In commenting on Memish's ProMED post today, a ProMED moderator noted that a Qatari man who got sick with MERS-CoV in October 2012 owned a camel and goat farm and that some of the goats and a caretaker were sick at the time.
If camels can pass the virus to humans, exactly how they do it is unknown. Another ProMED moderator, Artak Stepanyan of Yerevan State Medical University in Yerevan, Armenia, commented today that camels are known to spit, which "may add effectiveness and range to their potential role as virus disseminators."

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