German scientists developed MERS virus vaccine proves effective in camels

Of the 1,309 camels tested, 25.3 percent were positive for coronavirus, with a lot of them coming from wholesale markets.

The researchers also tested samples taken from the camels’ respiratory tracts for the presence of the virus.

No. Both MERS and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)belong to the same family of viruses, called coronaviruses, but the two viruses are not the same.

The candidate vaccine is meant to curb animal to animal infections, as well as animal to human infections by tackling the problem at its root. Mers-coronavirus infection of humans was first described in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Mers infection is particularly prevalent in juvenile camels, where infection results in mild symptoms that are similar to a common cold.

The MERS camel vaccine was then tested on four of eight camels where the rest were given a placebo before they were all given the actual virus. Successful immunization would deprive the virus of its primary host and break the chain of transmission, effectively minimizing the risk of future MERS epidemics in human populations. Only the control animals developed cold-like signs, with increased nasal mucus secretion. But it is worth noting that this type of vaccination does not stop the infection, it simply lowers the number of virus cells present in the system at any given time. Another four were used as controls.

The study, published online this morning in the journal Science, concluded dromedary camels “serve as an important reservoir for the maintenance and diversification of (MERS), and are the source of human infections”.

Further research most also be done to determine if the vaccine offers long lasting protection or just temporary defense.

A German-Dutch team has succeeded in immunizing dromedaries against the MERS virus.

“Now we need to delve more deeply into the duration of the immunity and dosage before applying it in real situations”.

The study was made with eight dromedaries from the Canary Islands, at the IRTA-CReSA Biocontainment Unit, on the UAB campus.

The results showed that around 6.9 percent of Saudi Arabian camels were simultaneously infected by two or three coronavirus species, and over half of the MERS coronavirus-positive camels were also infected with at least one other coronavirus. The ailment, which is caused by a strain of coronavirus, was first identified in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. Its mortality rate is 35%.

An outbreak in South Korea earlier this year saw Hong Kong issue a red travel warning to the country. MERS doesn’t manifest through violent symptoms or very recognizable ones.

The Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome has been affecting animals since its outbreak in 2014 and in some cases it can even spread to humans through its Coronavirus mutation. One of the four vaccinated camels excreted infectious virus particles six days after infection, yet sequencing of the spike gene of these particles showed that they coded for the same spike protein sequence, indicating that the virus had not mutated after encountering anti-S protein antibodies.