Emerging Infectious Diseases (Mar 2023)

Extended Viral Shedding of MERS-CoV Clade B Virus in Llamas Compared with African Clade C Strain

  • Jordi Rodon,
  • Anna Z. Mykytyn,
  • Nigeer Te,
  • Nisreen M.A. Okba,
  • Mart M. Lamers,
  • Lola Pailler-García,
  • Guillermo Cantero,
  • Irina Albulescu,
  • Berend-Jan Bosch,
  • Malik Peiris,
  • Albert Bensaid,
  • Júlia Vergara-Alert,
  • Bart L. Haagmans,
  • Joaquim Segalés

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2903.220986
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 29, no. 3
pp. 585 – 589

Abstract

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Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) clade B viruses are found in camelids and humans in the Middle East, but clade C viruses are not. We provide experimental evidence for extended shedding of MERS-CoV clade B viruses in llamas, which might explain why they outcompete clade C strains in the Arabian Peninsula.

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