Absence of MERS-CoV antibodies in feral camels in Australia: Implications for the pathogen's origin and spread

Crameri, Gary; Durr, Peter A.; Barr, Jennifer; Yu, Meng; Graham, Kerryne; Williams, Owen J.; Kayali, Ghazi; Smith, David; Peiris, Malik; Mackenzie, John S.; Wang, Lin-Fa

Since this time, the feral camel population in central Australia has undergone an exponential increase. In 1966, the population was estimated to be 15,000-20,000, and by the mid-1980s the estimate increased to a minimum population of 43,000 [18] . By 2008, the minimum population was re-estimated to be about 1 million animals [19] , and there was increasing concern of the economic, social and environmental damage the uncontrolled population was causing [20] . In response, plans have been adopted for population control, including a large culling operation between 2010 and 2014, when over 150,000 camels were killed [21] . Currently Australia has the largest herd of camels anywhere in the world, and the only population of wild camels. Long-term sustainable control measures to permanently maintain a lower population density are focused on developing a viable commercialisation, particularly based on mustering to process meat for human consumption for the export market.