Epidemiology and Scenario Simulations of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) Disease Spread and Control for Dromedary Camels in United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) is a coronavirus-caused viral respiratory infection initially detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012. In UAE, high seroprevalence (97.1) of MERS-CoV in camels was reported in several Emirate of Abu Dhabi studies, including camels in zoos, public escorts, and slaughterhouses. The objectives of this research include simulation of MERS-CoV spread using a customized animal disease spread model (i.e., customized stochastic model for the UAE; analyzing the MERS-CoV spread and prevalence based on camels age groups and identifying the optimum control MERS-CoV strategy. This study found that controlling animal mobility is the best management technique for minimizing epidemic length and the number of affected farms. This study also found that disease dissemination differs amongst camels of three ages: camel kids under the age of one, young camels aged one to four, and adult camels aged four and up; because of their immunological state, kids, as well as adults, had greater infection rates. To save immunization costs, it is advised that certain age groups be targeted and that intense ad hoc unexpected vaccinations be avoided. According to the study, choosing the best technique must consider both efficacy and cost.

Molecular Epidemiology of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Viruses in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an endemic disease in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in both wild and domestic animals. Despite this, no systematic FMD outbreak investigation accompanied by molecular characterisation of FMD viruses (FMDVs) in small ruminants or cattle has been performed, and only a single report that describes sequences for FMDVs in wildlife from the Emirate has been published. In this study, FMD outbreaks that occurred in 2021 in five animal farms and one animal market in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi were investigated. Cases involved sheep, goats, and cattle, as well as Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx). Twelve samples were positive for FMDV via RT-qPCR, and four samples (Arabian oryx n = 1, goat n = 2, and sheep n = 1) were successfully genotyped using VP1 nucleotide sequencing. These sequences shared 88~98% identity and were classified within the serotype O, Middle East-South Asia topotype (O/ME-SA). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Arabian oryx isolate (UAE/2/2021) belonged to the PanAsia-2 lineage, the ANT-10 sublineage, and was closely related to the FMDVs recently detected in neighbouring countries. The FMDV isolates from goats (UAE/10/2021 and UAE/11/2021) and from sheep (UAE/14/2021) formed a monophyletic cluster within the SA-2018 lineage that contained viruses from Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka. This is the first study describing the circulation of the FMDV O/ME-SA/SA-2018 sublineage in the UAE. These data shed light on the epidemiology of FMD in the UAE and motivate further systematic epidemiological studies and genomic sequencing to enhance the ongoing national animal health FMD control plan.

Modeling for Smart Vaccination against Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a contagious and economically important transboundary viral disease of small ruminants. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) national animal health plan aimed to control and eradicate PPR from the country by following the global PPR control and eradication strategy which adopts small ruminants' mass vaccination to eradicate the disease from the globe by 2030. A smart vaccination approach, which is less expensive and has longer-term sustainable benefits, is needed to accelerate the eradication of PPR. In this study, a mathematical algorithm was developed based on animals' identification and registration data, belonging to the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), and other different parameters related to PPR risk occurrence. The latter included animal holding vaccination history, the number of animals per holding, forecasting of the number of animals and newborns per holding, the proximity of an animal holding to a PPR outbreak and the historical animal holding owner vaccination rejection attitude. The developed algorithm successfully prioritized animal holdings at risk of PPR infection within Abu Dhabi Emirate to be targeted by vaccination. This in turn facilitated the mobilization of field vaccination teams to target specific sheep and goat holdings to ensure the generation of immunity against the disease on a risk-based approach. The vaccination coverage of the targeted livestock population was increased to 86% and the vaccination rejection attitude was reduced by 35%. The duration of the vaccination campaign was reduced to 30 compared to 70 working days and hence can alleviate the depletion of human and logistic resources commonly used in classical mass vaccination campaigns. The results obtained from implementing the algorithm-based PPR vaccination campaign will reduce the negative impact of PPR on the UAE livestock sector and accelerate the achievement of the national PPR eradication plan requirements.

Identification of diverse viruses in upper respiratory samples in dromedary camels from United Arab Emirates.

Camels are known carriers for many viral pathogens, including Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). It is likely that there are additional, as yet unidentified viruses in camels with the potential to cause disease in humans. In this study, we performed metagenomic sequencing analysis on nasopharyngeal swab samples from 108 MERS-CoV-positive dromedary camels from a live animal market in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. We obtained a total of 846.72 million high-quality reads from these nasopharyngeal swab samples, of which 2.88 million (0.34%) were related to viral sequences while 512.63 million (60.5%) and 50.87 million (6%) matched bacterial and eukaryotic sequences, respectively. Among the viral reads, sequences related to mammalian viruses from 13 genera in 10 viral families were identified, including Coronaviridae, Nairoviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Parvoviridae, Polyomaviridae, Papillomaviridae, Astroviridae, Picornaviridae, Poxviridae, and Genomoviridae. Some viral sequences belong to known camel or human viruses and others are from potentially novel camel viruses with only limited sequence similarity to virus sequences in GenBank. A total of five potentially novel virus species or strains were identified. Co-infection of at least two recently identified camel coronaviruses was detected in 92.6% of the camels in the study. This study provides a comprehensive survey of viruses in the virome of upper respiratory samples in camels that have extensive contact with the human population.

Epidemiological investigation of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in dromedary camel farms linked with human infection in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates.

The objective of this research was to investigate the prevalence of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection primarily in dromedary camel farms and the relationship of those infections with infections in humans in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Nasal swabs from 1113 dromedary camels (39 farms) and 34 sheep (1 farm) and sputum samples from 2 MERS-CoV-infected camel farm owners and 1 MERS-CoV-infected sheep farm owner were collected. Samples from camels and humans underwent real-time reverse-transcription quantitative PCR screening to detect MERS-CoV. In addition, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of partially characterized MERS-CoV genome fragments obtained from camels were performed. Among the 40 farms, 6 camel farms were positive for MERS-CoV; the virus was not detected in the single sheep farm. The maximum duration of viral shedding from infected camels was 2 weeks after the first positive test result as detected in nasal swabs and in rectal swabs obtained from infected calves. Three partial camel sequences characterized in this study (open reading frames 1a and 1ab, Spike1, Spike2, and ORF4b) together with the corresponding regions of previously reported MERS-CoV sequence obtained from one farm owner were clustering together within the larger MERS-CoV sequences cluster containing human and camel isolates reported for the Arabian Peninsula. Data provided further evidence of the zoonotic potential of MERS-CoV infection and strongly suggested that camels may have a role in the transmission of the virus to humans.

Asymptomatic MERS-CoV Infection in Humans Possibly Linked to Infected Dromedaries Imported from Oman to United Arab Emirates, May 2015.

In May 2015 in United Arab Emirates, asymptomatic Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection was identified through active case finding in 2 men with exposure to infected dromedaries. Epidemiologic and virologic findings suggested zoonotic transmission. Genetic sequences for viruses from the men and camels were similar to those for viruses recently detected in other countries.

Prevalence of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in dromedary camels in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates.

High seroprevalence of Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) in dromedary camels has been previously reported in United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, the molecular detection of the virus has never been reported before in UAE. Of the 7,803 nasal swabs tested in the epidemiological survey, MERS-CoV nucleic acid was detected by real-time PCR in a total of 126 (1.6 %) camels. Positive camels were detected at the borders with Saudi Arabia and Oman and in camels' slaughter houses. MERS-CoV partial sequences obtained from UAE camels were clustering with human- and camel-derived MERS-CoV sequences in the same geographic area. Results provide further evidence of MERS-CoV zoonosis.

Analysis of chicken anemia virus genome: evidence of intersubtype recombination.

BACKGROUND: Chicken anemia virus (CAV) is the causative agent of chicken infectious anemia. CAV putative intergenotypic recombinants have been reported previously. This fact is based on the previous classification of CAV sequences into three genotypes. However, it is unknown whether intersubtype recombination occurs between the recently reported four CAV genotypes and five subtypes of genome sequences. RESULTS: Phylogenetic analysis, together with a variety of computational recombination detection algorithms, was used to investigate CAV approximately full genomes. Statistically significant evidence of intersubtype recombination was detected in the parent-like and two putative CAV recombinant sequences. This event was shown to occur between CAV subgroup A1 and A2 sequences in the phylogenetic trees. CONCLUSIONS: We revealed that intersubtype recombination in CAV genome sequences played a role in generating genetic diversity within the natural population of CAV.

Molecular epidemiology of chicken anemia virus in commercial farms in China.

BACKGROUND: Chicken anemia virus (CAV) is the causative agent of chicken infectious anemia (CIA). A high prevalence of CAV has been reported in China. However, VP1 sequences of Chinese isolates show no clear genotype clustering or correlation with geographic origin. Therefore, the present study aimed to detect and characterize CAV isolates from China based on sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the VP1, VP2 and VP3 genes. RESULTS: Of 460 spleen samples tested by PCR, 47 (10.22%) were found to be positive for CAV. A total of 25 CAV, approximately full genomes, from different commercial farms were characterized. Phylogenetic analysis of the Chinese CAV sequences together with strains from different countries resulted in four distinct groups (A-D) with significant high bootstrap values. The Chinese viral sequences were located as four different clusters within groups A and D. All the Chinese CAV genomes characterized in this study had glutamine (Q) at amino acid position 394, which indicated that all are highly pathogenic. Mutations associated with attenuation and weaker reactivity with monoclonal antibody 2A9 were absent in the Chinese sequences. CONCLUSIONS: We revealed that CAV prevalence was lower than that reported previously in commercial farms in China. We also showed four distinct sequence groups (A-D), and genetic variability in local CAV sequences that could be divided into four groups based on phylogenetic analysis.

Chest imaging findings in children with influenza A H1N1.

OBJECTIVE: To assess imaging findings at presentation in children diagnosed with influenza A (H1N1) infection. METHODS: This is a retrospective observational cohort study conducted at The Children's Hospital affiliated to Soochow University, Suzhou, China between September 2009 and March 2010. Nasopharyngeal swabs and bronchial aspirate samples from 81 children with acute respiratory infections were tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Chest imaging for these patients was analyzed retrospectively by 2 independent radiologists for the presence and distribution of abnormalities. RESULTS: Chest radiograph findings consisted of bilateral patchy areas of consolidation (n=48), diffuse areas of air-space consolidation (n=18), and lobar consolidation (n=7). Eight chest x-rays were normal. Abnormalities were observed more frequently in the lower lobes (bilateral [n=66], unilateral [n=7]). Computed tomography (CT) scans were performed in 18 cases with air-space consolidation and interstitial opacities. Cases with diffuse areas of air-space consolidation were followed-up after 3 months by high resolution CT imaging, which showed interstitial thickening. CONCLUSION: The predominant imaging findings in childhood influenza A (H1N1) were bilateral patchy areas of consolidation, followed by diffuse areas of air-space consolidation, normal radiographs, and lobar consolidation.