title: Infectious Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Excretion and Serotype Variability Based on Live Virus Isolates from Patients in Saudi Arabia.
abstract: The newly emerged Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has infected at least 1,082 people, including 439 fatalities. So far, no empirical virus isolation study has been done to elucidate infectious virus secretion or serotype variability. Here, we used 51 respiratory samples from 32 patients with confirmed MERS-CoV infection for virus isolation in Vero B4 and Caco-2 cells. We found Caco-2 cells to significantly enhance isolation success over routinely used Vero cells. Isolation success correlated with viral RNA concentration and time after diagnosis as well as with the amount of IgA antibodies secreted in respiratory samples used for isolation. Results from plaque reduction neutralization assays using a representative range of serum samples and virus isolates suggested that all circulating human MERS-CoV strains represent one single serotype. The choice of prototype strain is not likely to influence the success of candidate MERS-CoV vaccines. However, vaccine formulations should be evaluated for their potential to induce IgA.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Bonn-Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Doreen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muth
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Bonn-Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Victor M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3605-0136
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Corman
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Assiri
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Malak
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Masri
authors.affiliation: Central Military Laboratory and Blood Bank, Microbiology Division, Prince Sultan Military City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farah
authors.affiliation: EUROIMMUN AG, Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Steinhagen
authors.affiliation: EUROIMMUN AG, Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lattwein
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Jaffar A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Al-Tawfiq
authors.affiliation: Saudi Center for Disease Control, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Albarrak
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Bonn, Germany German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Bonn-Cologne, Germany drosten@virology-bonn.de zmemish@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drosten
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia drosten@virology-bonn.de zmemish@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ziad A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Memish
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D065207:Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D065288:Serogroup; D014709:Vero Cells; D014776:Virus Cultivation; D055815:Young Adult