Countrywide Survey for MERS-Coronavirus Antibodies in Dromedaries and Humans in Pakistan

• 来源期刊: 中国病毒学
• 年，卷（期）: 2018,（5）
• 页码范围: 410-417
• 页数: 8页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a zoonotic pathogen capable of causing severe respiratory disease in humans.Although dromedary camels are considered as a major reservoir host,the MERS-CoV infection dynamics in camels are not fully understood.Through surveillance in Pakistan,nasal (n =776) and serum (n =1050)samples were collected from camels between November 2015 and February 2018.Samples were collected from animal markets,free-roaming herds and abattoirs.An in-house ELISA was developed to detect IgG against MERS-CoV.A total of 794 camels were found seropositive for MERS-CoV.Prevalence increased with the age and the highest seroprevalence was recorded in camels aged ＞ 10 years (81.37％) followed by those aged 3.1-10 years (78.65％) and ≤ 3 years (58.19％).Higher prevalence was observed in female (78.13％) as compared to male (70.70％).Of the camel nasal swabs,22 were found to be positive by RT-qPCR though with high Ct values.Moreover,2,409 human serum samples were also collected from four provinces of Pakistan during 2016-2017.Among the sampled population,840 humans were camel herders.Although we found a high rate of MERS-CoV antibody positive dromedaries (75.62％) in Pakistan,no neutralizing antibodies were detected in humans with and without contact to camels.