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. 2017 Nov 10;17(1):715.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-017-2791-0.

No MERS-CoV but positive influenza viruses in returning Hajj pilgrims, China, 2013-2015

Xuezheng Ma  1 , Fang Liu  2 , Lijuan Liu  1 , Liping Zhang  1 , Mingzhu Lu  2 , Abuduzhayier Abudukadeer  3 , Lingbing Wang  3 , Feng Tian  3 , Wei Zhen  4 , Pengfei Yang  5 , Kongxin Hu  6
Affiliations

No MERS-CoV but positive influenza viruses in returning Hajj pilgrims, China, 2013-2015

Xuezheng Ma et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: There is global health concern that the mass movement of pilgrims to and from Mecca annually could contribute to the international spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). In China, about 11,000 Muslim pilgrims participate in the Hajj gathering in Mecca annually. This is the first report of MERS-CoV and respiratory virus molecular screening of returning pilgrims at points of entry in China from 2013 to 2015.

Methods and results: A total of 847 returning Hajj pilgrims participated in this study. The test results indicated that of the travelers, 34 tested positive for influenza A virus, 14 for influenza B virus, 4 for metapneumo virus, 2 for respiratory syncytial virus, and 3 for human coronavirus. There was a significant difference in the rates of positive and negative influenza virus tests between Hajj pilgrims with symptoms and those without. The detection rates of influenza virus were not significantly different among the three years studied, at 5.3, 6.0 and 6.3% for 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The MERS-CoV and respiratory viruses detection results at points of entry in China from 2013 to 2015 indicated that there were no MERS-CoV infection but a 5.7% positive influenza viruses in returning Chinese pilgrims.

Keywords: China; Hajj pilgrims; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV); Respiratory viruses.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was conducted according to the protocol approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee, Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, in compliance with the provisions for human research in the Helsinki Declaration (ES-0823696/2015/384HQ). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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