A rapid scoping review of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in animal hosts

• Published in: Zoonoses and public health Vol. 66; no. 1; pp. 35 - 46
• Main Authors: Gardner, Emma G., Kelton, David, Poljak, Zvonimir, Dobschuetz, Sophie, Greer, Amy L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-02-2019; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Animals; Camels; Communicable Diseases, Emerging - transmission; Communicable Diseases, Emerging - veterinary; Communicable Diseases, Emerging - virology; Coronaviridae; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - transmission; Coronavirus Infections - veterinary; Coronavirus Infections - virology; Coronaviruses; disease reservoirs; Disease transmission; Documents; dromedary; Frameworks; MERS‐CoV; Middle East respiratory syndrome; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus - isolation & purification; Modelling; Parameter estimation; Pathogens; Population studies; Respiratory diseases; Review; Reviews; Scientific papers; Zoonoses; Middle East; camels; disease reservoirs; review; zoonoses; MERS-CoV; Middle East respiratory syndrome; dromedary
• ISSN: 1863-1959; 1863-2378
• DOI: 10.1111/zph.12537

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS‐CoV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen discovered in 2012. The purpose of this scoping review was to summarize the empirical evidence for MERS‐CoV in animals in order to map knowledge gaps and to extract data for modelling disease transmission in dromedary camels. A review protocol was developed a priori, and a systematic search, data extraction and summary were conducted using the Arksey and O'Malley framework. Ninety‐nine publications were identified for full review out of 1,368 unique records. Of these publications, 71 were articles in scientific journals. Ninety of the studies were observational and the remaining nine were experimental. We summarize characteristics of animal studies including study design, study population and outcomes of interest for future transmission modelling in the reservoir population. The majority of field studies reported measures of prevalence, while experimental studies provided estimates of transmission parameters that pertain to the natural course of disease.