Low-Level Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus among Camel Handlers, Kenya, 2019

Abstract

Although seroprevalence of Middle East respiratory coronavirus syndrome is high among camels in Africa, researchers have not detected zoonotic transmission in Kenya. We followed a cohort of 262 camel handlers in Kenya during April 2018–March 2020. We report PCR-confirmed Middle East respiratory coronavirus syndrome in 3 asymptomatic handlers.

Keywords

• MERS-CoV
• asymptomatic
• zoonoses
• Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus
• camels
• viruses