Human-Dromedary Camel Interactions and the Risk of Acquiring Zoonotic Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection.
Zoonoses Public Health
; 63(1): 1-9, 2016 Feb.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25545147
ABSTRACT
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases without documented contact with another human MERS-CoV case make up 61% (517/853) of all reported cases. These primary cases are of particular interest for understanding the source(s) and route(s) of transmission and for designing long-term disease control measures. Dromedary camels are the only animal species for which there is convincing evidence that it is a host species for MERS-CoV and hence a potential source of human infections. However, only a small proportion of the primary cases have reported contact with camels. Other possible sources and vehicles of infection include food-borne transmission through consumption of unpasteurized camel milk and raw meat, medicinal use of camel urine and zoonotic transmission from other species. There are critical knowledge gaps around this new disease which can only be closed through traditional field epidemiological investigations and studies designed to test hypothesis regarding sources of infection and risk factors for disease. Since the 1960s, there has been a radical change in dromedary camel farming practices in the Arabian Peninsula with an intensification of the production and a concentration of the production around cities. It is possible that the recent intensification of camel herding in the Arabian Peninsula has increased the virus' reproductive number and attack rate in camel herds while the 'urbanization' of camel herding increased the frequency of zoonotic 'spillover' infections from camels to humans. It is reasonable to assume, although difficult to measure, that the sensitivity of public health surveillance to detect previously unknown diseases is lower in East Africa than in Saudi Arabia and that sporadic human cases may have gone undetected there.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Camelus
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Zoonosis
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Infecciones por Coronavirus
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Coronavirus del Síndrome Respiratorio de Oriente Medio
Tipo de estudio:
Etiology_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Adult
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Animals
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
País/Región como asunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Año:
2016
Tipo del documento:
Article