Scientists link MERS virus with camels
Print Edition
Scientists have found an intriguing clue that suggests camels might somehow be involved in infecting people in the Middle East with the mysterious MERS virus.
Since the virus was first identified last September, there have been 94 illnesses, including 46 deaths, from MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, mostly in Saudi Arabia. Aside from several clusters where the virus has likely spread between people, experts have largely been stumped as to how patients got infected.
In a study published yesterday, European scientists found traces of antibodies against MERS in dromedary, or one-humped, camels, but not the virus itself. Finding antibodies means the camels were at one point infected with MERS or a similar virus before fighting off the infection.
The antibodies were found in all 50 camel blood samples from Oman, compared to 15 of 105 samples from Spanish camels. No MERS antibodies were found in tests done in cows, sheep or goats.
“Finding the (MERS) virus is like finding a needle in a haystack, but finding the antibodies at least gives you an indication of where to look,” said Marion Koopmans, chief of virology at the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the study’s senior author. “What this tells us is that there’s something circulating in camels that looks darned similar to MERS.”
The study was published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Koopmans expected results would be similar for other camel populations across the Middle East.
“We can’t say this proves camels are a reservoir for MERS but it does show there is something going on with camels that may be relevant for people,” Koopmans said.
Across the Middle East, camel products including milk are popular and the animals are kept for racing.
MERS is part of a family of coronaviruses that can cause the common cold as well as SARS, which sparked a global outbreak in 2003.
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