Dromedary camels in northern Mali have high seropositivity to MERS-CoV

Falzarano, Darryl; Kamissoko, Badian; de Wit, Emmie; Maïga, Ousmane; Cronin, Jacqueline; Samaké, Kassim; Traoré, Abdalah; Milne-Price, Shauna; Munster, Vincent J.; Sogoba, Nafomon; Niang, Mamadou; Safronetz, David; Feldmann, Heinz

Dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) appear to play an important role in the maintenance of MERS-CoV in the environment and its subsequent transmission to humans [1, 2] . While it is suspected that MERS-CoV originated in African bats [3] , contact with camels is associated with primary human infections. Serological evidence demonstrates that MERS-CoV (or serologically related viruses) have been present in camels in the Middle East and parts of Africa for over 30 years. Studies have found that a high proportion of camels from Egypt, Tunisia, Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Jordan [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] have antibodies against MERS-CoV. This suggests that widespread exposure to MERS-CoV among camels has been ongoing for an extended period of time. In contrast, serum from other animals that are common in the Middle East including sheep, goats, cattle and horses has not been found to contain antibodies that are reactive to MERS-CoV [7, 8] . Infectious virus has also been isolated from nasal swabs of camels in some of these regions [10, 11] .