SOME EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON MERS CORONAVIRUS IN DROMEDARIES IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES- A SHORT COMMUNICATION

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) caused by a coronavirus emerged in the Middle East in 2012, and has killed so far more than 300 people most of them in Saudi Arabia. MERS is a zoonotic disease and transmission from the dromedary camel to humans has been documented. However, most cases occur between humans. The low incidence of transmission from camel to human has several reasons. The virus is excreted only for 8 days and mainly young dromedaries are infected which have very little or no contact to their caretakers. It has yet not been proven how and from where the calves get there infection. Over 90% of adult dromedaries possess specific MERS-CoV antibodies and do not shed the virus. Thirty dromedaries (15 dams and 15 calves) were tested at the Saudi Arabian border to the UAE for MERS-CoV infection. All dams had seroconverted, but were PCR and virus negative. However, 13 of their offsprings had antibodies to MERS-CoV, 11 (73%) were positive in PCR and from 5 (33%) MERS-CoV was isolated. A visit 8 days later showed that all had seroconverted, 4 (27%) remained PCR positive but none exhibited virus in their nasal cavities.