MERS coronaviruses from camels in Africa exhibit region-dependent genetic diversity

Chu, Daniel K. W.; Hui, Kenrie P. Y.; Perera, Ranawaka A. P. M.; Miguel, Eve; Niemeyer, Daniela; Zhao, Jincun; Channappanavar, Rudragouda; Dudas, Gytis; Oladipo, Jamiu O.; Traoré, Amadou; Fassi-Fihri, Ouafaa; Ali, Abraham; Demissié, Getnet F.; Muth, Doreen; Chan, Michael C. W.; Nicholls, John M.; Meyerholz, David K.; Kuranga, Sulyman A.; Mamo, Gezahegne; Zhou, Ziqi; So, Ray T. Y.; Hemida, Maged G.; Webby, Richard J.; Roger, Francois; Rambaut, Andrew; Poon, Leo L. M.; Perlman, Stanley; Drosten, Christian; Chevalier, Veronique; Peiris, Malik

MERS | coronavirus | evolution | Africa | zoonosis M iddle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) remains a disease of global public health concern (1). Many human infections are zoonotic in origin, but some result from clusters of human-to-human transmission, especially within hospitals and health care facilities (2) . Zoonotic disease has been reported from the Arabian Peninsula, and dromedary camels are the only confirmed source of zoonotic infection (3) . Although MERScoronavirus (MERS-CoV) is also endemic in dromedaries in Africa, where the majority of dromedary camels are found (4-7), zoonotic infections have not been reported from Africa. Hypotheses for this pattern of zoonotic disease include genetic differences in the viruses; cultural, behavioral, or dietary differences in interactions between humans and camels and camel products; or unnoticed human cases through lack of awareness and surveillance in African countries. Data on phylogenetic and phenotypic characterization of Significance Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a zoonotic disease of global health concern, and dromedary camels are the source of human infection. Although Africa has the largest number of dromedary camels, and MERS-coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is endemic in these camels, locally acquired zoonotic MERS is not reported from Africa. However, little is known of the genetic or phenotypic characterization of MERS-CoV from Africa. In this study we characterize MERS-CoV from Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Morocco, and Ethiopia. We demonstrate viral genetic and phenotypic differences in viruses from West Africa, which may be relevant to differences in zoonotic potential, highlighting the need for studies of MERS-CoV at the animal-human interface.