Via CIDRAP, Robert Roos writes: Qatar says MERS-CoV-infected camels now virus-free. The post also discusses the latest developments in Saudi MERS cases. Excerpt:
A camel herd in Qatar that had Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infections associated with two human MERS cases now seems to be free of the virus, Qatari authorities reported yesterday via the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
"The samples from the same herd tested using the same technique were negative and this may show that MERS-CoV infection in camels is a self-limiting disease," a Qatari agriculture official said in the OIE report.
Three of 14 camels in the herd had tested positive for the virus, according to findings reported by Qatari health officials in late November. The camels were tested in October, after MERS-CoV was diagnosed in their 61-year-old owner and in a 23-year-old man who worked on the farm.
Scientists found that the camel viruses were nearly identical to the viruses in the two patients, according to a separate report published 2 weeks ago in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. But they couldn't determine if the camels had passed the virus to the humans or vice versa, or if some other host had infected both camels and humans.
