Emerging Infectious Diseases (Dec 2013)

Lack of MERS Coronavirus Neutralizing Antibodies in Humans, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia

  • Stefanie Gierer,
  • Heike Hofmann-Winkler,
  • Waleed H. Albuali,
  • Stephanie Bertram,
  • Abdullah M. Al-Rubaish,
  • Abdullah A. Yousef,
  • Awatif N. Al-Nafaie,
  • Amein K. Al-Ali,
  • Obeid E. Obeid,
  • Khaled R. Alkharsah,
  • Stefan Pöhlmann

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1912.130701
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 12
pp. 2034 – 2036

Abstract

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We used a lentiviral vector bearing the viral spike protein to detect neutralizing antibodies against Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in persons from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. None of the 268 samples tested displayed neutralizing activity, which suggests that MERS-CoV infections in humans are infrequent in this province.

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