The first known cluster of MERS occurred in April 2012 in Jordan, while the second occurred a few months later in Saudi Arabia. Were these cases related?
The genomic structure of this deadly virus has been determined and the virus seems[1] very similar to those reported for bats-derived Coronaviruses of the 2c subgroup: the Bat-CoV HKU4 and HKU5 stains. Research has also demonstrated that Corona viruses have the potential to undergo rapid genetic change as they adapt to new hosts[2].
[Asellia tridens. Foto: Lars Bjurström] |
Thus the question remains how the virus managed to jump from bats to humans. The unknown vector seems elusive but the answer may be easy: mosquitoes.
[Foto: Paul Zborowski] |
This could indicate that mosquitoes could first feed on the blood of an infected bat and when it subsequently feeds on the blood of a human, it will infect the human with Coronavirus.
[1] Lu et al: SARS-like virus in the Middle East: a truly bat-related coronavirus causing human diseases in Protein & Cell - 2012
[2] Rest et al: SARS associated coronavirus has a recombinant polymerase and coronaviruses have a history of host-shifting in Journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases - 2003
[3] Smith et al: Bats and their virome: an important source of emerging viruses capable of infecting humans in Current Opinion in Virology - 2013
[4] Paessler et al: Pathogenesis of the viral hemorrhagic fevers in Annual Review of Pathology – 2013
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