Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) causes transient lower respiratory tract infection in rhesus macaques.
In 2012, a novel betacoronavirus, designated Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus or MERS-CoV and associated with severe respiratory disease in humans, emerged in the Arabian Peninsula. To date, 108 human cases have been reported, including cases of human-to-human transmission. The availability of an animal disease model is essential for understanding pathogenesis and developing effective countermeasures. Upon a combination of intratracheal, ocular, oral, and intranasal inoculation with 7 × 10(6) 50% tissue culture infectious dose of the MERS-CoV isolate HCoV-EMC/2012, rhesus macaques developed a transient lower respiratory tract infection. Clinical signs, virus shedding, virus replication in respiratory tissues, gene expression, and cytokine and chemokine profiles peaked early in infection and decreased over time. MERS-CoV caused a multifocal, mild to marked interstitial pneumonia, with virus replication occurring mainly in alveolar pneumocytes. This tropism of MERS-CoV for the lower respiratory tract may explain the severity of the disease observed in humans and the, up to now, limited human-to-human transmission.
Laboratory of Virology, Rocky Mountain Veterinary Branch, and Microscopy Unit, Research Technologies Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840.
Emmie
E
de Wit
Angela L
AL
Rasmussen
Darryl
D
Falzarano
Trenton
T
Bushmaker
Friederike
F
Feldmann
Douglas L
DL
Brining
Elizabeth R
ER
Fischer
Cynthia
C
Martellaro
Atsushi
A
Okumura
Jean
J
Chang
Dana
D
Scott
Arndt G
AG
Benecke
Michael G
MG
Katze
Heinz
H
Feldmann
Vincent J
VJ
Munster
D000818:Animals; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000821:virology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014771:Virion / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology; D017201:Virus Shedding / Q000502:physiology
DPP4; emerging infectious disease