Emerging Infectious Diseases (Jun 2014)

MERS Coronaviruses in Dromedary Camels, Egypt

  • Daniel K.W. Chu,
  • Leo L.M. Poon,
  • Mokhtar M. Gomaa,
  • Mahmoud M. Shehata,
  • Ranawaka A.P.M. Perera,
  • Dina Abu Zeid,
  • Amira S. El Rifay,
  • Lewis Y. Siu,
  • Yi Guan,
  • Richard J. Webby,
  • Mohamed A. Ali,
  • Malik Peiris,
  • Ghazi Kayali

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2006.140299
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 6
pp. 1049 – 1053

Abstract

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We identified the near-full-genome sequence (29,908 nt, >99%) of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) from a nasal swab specimen from a dromedary camel in Egypt. We found that viruses genetically very similar to human MERS-CoV are infecting dromedaries beyond the Arabian Peninsula, where human MERS-CoV infections have not yet been detected.

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