title: Seroepidemiology of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus in Saudi Arabia (1993) and Australia (2014) and characterisation of assay specificity.
abstract: The pseudoparticle virus neutralisation test (ppNT) and a conventional microneutralisation (MN) assay are specific for detecting antibodies to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) when used in seroepidemiological studies in animals. Genetically diverse MERS-CoV appear antigenically similar in MN tests. We confirm that MERS-CoV was circulating in dromedaries in Saudi Arabia in 1993. Preliminary data suggest that feral Australian dromedaries may be free of MERS-CoV but larger confirmatory studies are needed.
authors: These authors contributed equally to this work.
authors: M G
authors: MG
authors: Hemida
authors: R A
authors: RA
authors: Perera
authors: R A
authors: RA
authors: Al Jassim
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Kayali
authors: L Y
authors: LY
authors: Siu
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Wang
authors: K W
authors: KW
authors: Chu
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Perlman
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Ali
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Alnaeem
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Guan
authors: L L
authors: LL
authors: Poon
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Saif
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Peiris
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000097:blood*; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002162:Camelus / Q000097:blood*; D002417:Cattle / Q000097:blood; D017934:Coronavirus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D009500:Neutralization Tests / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G