Human infection with MERS coronavirus after exposure to infected camels, Saudi Arabia, 2013

• Published in: Emerging infectious diseases Vol. 20; no. 6; pp. 1012 - 1015
• Main Authors: Memish, Ziad A, Cotten, Matthew, Meyer, Benjamin, Watson, Simon J, Alsahafi, Abdullah J, Al Rabeeah, Abdullah A, Corman, Victor Max, Sieberg, Andrea, Makhdoom, Hatem Q, Assiri, Abdullah, Al Masri, Malaki, Aldabbagh, Souhaib, Bosch, Berend-Jan, Beer, Martin, Müller, Marcel A, Kellam, Paul, Drosten, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases 01-06-2014; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Camels; Camelus - virology; coronavirus; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - transmission; Coronavirus Infections - virology; Coronaviruses; Disease transmission; Dispatch; dromedary camels; Expedited; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Human Infection with MERS Coronavirus after Exposure to Infected Camels, Saudi Arabia, 2013; Humans; Influence; Male; MERS; Middle East respiratory syndrome; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus - classification; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus - genetics; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus - isolation & purification; Saudi Arabia; viruses; Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabia; viruses; coronavirus; dromedary camels; MERS; Middle East respiratory syndrome; respiratory infections
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059
• DOI: 10.3201/eid2006.140402

We investigated a case of human infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) after exposure to infected camels. Analysis of the whole human-derived virus and 15% of the camel-derived virus sequence yielded nucleotide polymorphism signatures suggestive of cross-species transmission. Camels may act as a direct source of human MERS-CoV infection.