Volume 20, Number 6—June 2014
Dispatch
MERS Coronaviruses in Dromedary Camels, Egypt
Table 1
Results of testing nasal swab specimens from dromedary camels by RT-PCR for MERS-CoV and for other CoVs, Egypt, 2013*
Location of animals sampled | No. samples tested | No. MERS-CoV positive† | No. other CoV positive. (virus identified) |
---|---|---|---|
Alexandria‡ | 17 | 0 | 0 |
Cairo | |||
Abattoir 1§ | 46 | 0 | 3 (BCoV) |
Abattoir 2§ | 10 | 3 | 0 |
Nile Delta region, abattoir§ | 37 | 1 | 5 (BCoV) |
*RT-PCR, reverse transcription PCR; MERS, Middle East respiratory syndrome; CoV, coronavirus; BCoV, bovine coronavirus.
Nasal swabs from dromedary camels were placed in phosphate-buffered saline/glycerol transport medium, kept on ice during the field trip and stored at −80°C on arriving at the laboratory. Specimens were shipped in dry ice to the University of Hong Kong laboratory, where they were stored at −80°C until testing.
†Taken as positive only when both upstream of E gene and open reading frame 1a RT-PCR were positive.
‡Locally reared animals.
§Imported from Sudan or Ethiopia.
1These authors contributed equally to this article.