Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun;68(4):353-357.
doi: 10.1111/zph.12816. Epub 2021 Feb 9.

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) nucleic acids detected in the saliva and conjunctiva of some naturally infected dromedary camels in Saudi Arabia -2019

Maged Gomaa Hemida  1   2 , Ali Mohamed Ali  3   4 , Abdelmohsen Alnaeem  5
Affiliations

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) nucleic acids detected in the saliva and conjunctiva of some naturally infected dromedary camels in Saudi Arabia -2019

Maged Gomaa Hemida et al. Zoonoses Public Health. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Dromedary camels are playing essential roles in the evolution and transmission of MERS-CoV. MERS-CoV shedding in some dromedary camel secretions, particularly nasal swabs, were studied in more detail. However, the roles of viral shedding in saliva and ocular secretions are still required further detailed studies. We performed a longitudinal study on a farm of dromedary camel herd from 10th March until 7th April, 2019, in eastern Saudi Arabia. This is a closed management herd including a large number of colour-based breed animals and include animals of both sexes. We collected saliva and ocular swabs from 18% of the target animal population. Detection of the MERS-CoV-RNAs in these samples was conducted by the real-time PCR technique. We detected the viral RNAs in the saliva of and conjunctival swabs of some of the tested animals at 33%, 77% and 88% during the three-time points, respectively. Moreover, we also detected the viral RNAs in the conjunctival swabs at 11%, 22% and 33% at similar time intervals. Our results are suggesting the possibility of MERS-CoV shedding in the saliva and the ocular discharges of the infected dromedary camels. This explains, at least in part, the mechanism of transmission of MERS-CoV from animals to humans. More studies are needed for a better understanding of the transmission of MERS-CoV from animals to humans; thus, the risk of virus spread can be mitigated.

Keywords: MERS-CoV; conjunctiva; dromedary camels; rt-RT-PCR; saliva.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Adney, D. R., van Doremalen, N., Brown, V. R., Bushmaker, T., Scott, D., de Wit, E., Bowen, R. A., & Munster, V. J. (2014). Replication and shedding of MERS-CoV in upper respiratory tract of inoculated dromedary camels. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 20(12), 1999-2005. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2012.141280
    1. Alhaddad, H., Maraqa, T., Alabdulghafour, S., Alaskar, H., Alaqeely, R., Almathen, F., & Alhajeri, B. H. (2019). Quality and quantity of dromedary camel DNA sampled from whole-blood, saliva, and tail-hair. PLoS One, 14(1), e0211743. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211743
    1. Alnaeem, A., Kasem, S., Qasim, I., Al-Doweriej, A., Al-Houfufi, A., Alwazan, A., Albadrani, A., Alshaammari, K., Refaat, M., Al-Shabebi, A., & Hemida, M. G. (2020). Some pathological observations on the naturally infected dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia 2018-2019. The Veterinary Quarterly, 40(1), 190-197. https://doi.org/10.1080/01652176.2020.1781350
    1. Alsafy, M. A., El-Gendy, S. A., & Abumandour, M. M. (2014). Computed tomography and gross anatomical studies on the head of one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius). Anatomical Record (Hoboken), 297(4), 630-642. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.22865
    1. Azzi, L., Carcano, G., Gianfagna, F., Grossi, P., Gasperina, D. D., Genoni, A., Fasano, M., Sessa, F., Tettamanti, L., Carinci, F., Maurino, V., Rossi, A., Tagliabue, A., & Baj, A. (2020). Saliva is a reliable tool to detect SARS-CoV-2. Journal of Infection, 81(1), e45-e50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2020.04.005

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources