1. Genetic Evidence of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-Cov) and Widespread Seroprevalence among Camels in Kenya
- Author
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Xing-Yi Ge, Erick O. Mungube, Yun Luo, Lin-Fa Wang, Ben Hu, Ali Zohaib, Wei Zhang, Vincent Odendo, Francis Gakuya, K J Ngeiywa, Danielle E. Anderson, Peng Zhou, Cecilia Waruhiu, Huajun Zhang, Vincent Obanda, Yan Zhu, Moses Masika, Jacqueline K Lichoti, Jing Chen, Xing-Lou Yang, Bing Yan, Sheila C. Ommeh, Zhengli Shi, Bernard Agwanda, Bei Li, Desterio Ouma, and Shan Li
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Male ,Veterinary medicine ,medicine.disease_cause ,Antibodies, Viral ,Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) ,Zoonosis ,0302 clinical medicine ,Medical microbiology ,Seroepidemiologic Studies ,Zoonoses ,Pandemic ,Epidemiology ,Prevalence ,Phylogeny ,Public health ,Transmission (medicine) ,Age Factors ,Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus ,Molecular Medicine ,RNA, Viral ,Female ,Coronavirus Infections ,Research Article ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Kenya ,endocrine system ,Camelus ,Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus ,030231 tropical medicine ,030106 microbiology ,Immunology ,Genome, Viral ,Biology ,Nose ,03 medical and health sciences ,Virology ,medicine ,Seroprevalence ,Animals ,Humans ,One-health ,Disease Reservoirs ,Whole Genome Sequencing ,Correction ,medicine.disease ,Antibodies, Neutralizing ,Cross-Sectional Studies - Abstract
We describe the first genome isolation of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Kenya. This fatal zoonotic pathogen was first described in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012. Epidemiological and molecular evidence revealed zoonotic transmission from camels to humans and between humans. Currently, MERS-CoV is classified by the WHO as having high pandemic potential requiring greater surveillance. Previous studies of MERS-CoV in Kenya mainly focused on site-specific and archived camel and human serum samples for antibodies. We conducted active nationwide cross-sectional surveillance of camels and humans in Kenya, targeting both nasal swabs and plasma samples from 1,163 camels and 486 humans collected from January 2016 to June 2018. A total of 792 camel plasma samples were positive by ELISA. Seroprevalence increased with age, and the highest prevalence was observed in adult camels (82.37%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 79.50–84.91). More female camels were significantly seropositive (74.28%, 95% CI 71.14–77.19) than male camels (P
- Published
- 2018