Analyzing the roles of some species of arthropods in the transmission of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus

Abstract

Background: The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is still listed on the WHO Research and Development Blueprint of emerging pathogens. Dromedary camels remain the only known animal reservoir of the virus. The animal-to-animal as well as the animal-to-human transmission in the MERS-CoV cycles were reported. However, many aspects of these transmission chains are not well studied. One of these directions is the potential roles of various species of arthropods in the transmission of the virus. Objectives: The main goal of the current work was to study the roles of several species of arthropods in the transmission of MERS-CoV. Methodology: To achieve this goal, we identified some MERS-CoV naturally infected dromedary camel populations. We conducted a longitudinal study among these animals for more than 2 months. This was done by repeated testing of nasal swabs biweekly from some selected animals in this population for the presence of MERS-CoV-RNAs by real-time PCR. During the duration of this study, we collected several species of arthropods (Culicoides, Stomoxys, Musca domestica and some Culex species) that shared the habitat and were circulating in this farm during this longitudinal study. Results: Our results showing, despite the detection of the viral RNAs in some animals throughout this study, none of the examined species of arthropods tested positive for the viral RNA. Conclusions: These results are suggesting that at least the tested species of arthropods may not play roles in the transmission of MERS-CoV. However, more large-scale studies are required to explore any potential roles of arthropods in the transmission cycle of MERS-CoV.