It's a Bird....A Bat...Oh No....Scientists find MERS-like antibodies in camels.

It's a Bird....A Bat...Oh No....Scientists find MERS-like antibodies in camels.HT: Ottowa citizen.By By Helen Branswell.

European scientists have uncovered a clue to the mystery of where the new MERS coronavirus resides in nature, reporting evidence that dromedary camels can be infected with the virus.

The finding is the first confirmation of MERS infection in a species other than humans, though it does not prove that the animals are the source of infections in people, the authors were quick to say.
"I think it shows that something — either MERS or something that looks very similar to it — has been going around in camels, and that that really needs to be looked at as a possible source. That's as far as we can go, I would say," senior author Dr. Marion Koopmans said in an interview about the study, published in this week's issue of Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Koopmans and colleagues found antibodies to MERS or a closely related coronavirus in the blood of camels from Oman on the Arabian Peninsula and also on the Canary Islands, an archipelago off northwestern Africa which is part of Spain.
The fact that camels may be a source of the virus adds urgency to the task of finding out how people are getting infected and trying to prevent future infections.
That's because the animals are among a number slaughtered for sacrifice as part of the Hajj, the massive annual pilgrimage that draws several million Muslims to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. All Muslims who are able are required by their faith to make the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
To complete the responsibilities of the Hajj, each pilgrim must participate in the sacrifice of an animal. That participation often takes the form of contributing to the cost of buying and slaughtering the animal and then distributing the cooked meat to family members and the poor.
The animal sacrifices take place during Eid al Adha — the feast of sacrifice — that concludes the Hajj. This year the pilgrimage will occur in early to mid-October.
"Given that animal sacrifice is an essential and a mandatory component of the Hajj of the pilgrims ... finding an answer as quickly as possible would be quite important," said Dr. Kamran Khan, an infectious diseases physician at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital who specializes in using airline traffic data to predict the global movement of diseases.
"I do think what this really does is helps guide some of the further investigations now. But there is certainly some time sensitivity around it."
The World Health Organization's lead expert on the MERS virus agreed getting answers sooner rather than later would be a good idea in light of the fast-approaching Hajj.
"If this virus is actually transmitting and circulating in camels and-or other animals, that could be a time of exposure," said Dr. Anthony Mounts. "It does mean that we need to do the investigations to find out the routes of transmission."Read the full story here.