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Volume 20, Number 6—June 2014
Dispatch

MERS Coronaviruses in Dromedary Camels, Egypt

Daniel K.W. Chu1, Leo L.M. Poon1, Mokhtar M. Gomaa, Mahmoud M. Shehata, Ranawaka A.P.M. Perera, Dina Abu Zeid, Amira S. El Rifay, Lewis Y. Siu, Yi Guan, Richard J. Webby, Mohamed A. Ali, Malik PeirisComments to Author , and Ghazi KayaliComments to Author 
Author affiliations: The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China (D.K.W. Chu, L.L.M. Poon, R.A.P.M. Perera, Y. Guan, M. Peiris); National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt (M.M. Gomaa, M.M. Shehata, D.A. Zeid, A.S. El Rifay, M.A. Ali); HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, Hong Kong (L.Y. Siu); St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA (R.J. Webby, G. Kayali)

Main Article

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.

Main Article

1These authors contributed equally to this article.

Page created: May 16, 2014
Page updated: May 16, 2014
Page reviewed: May 16, 2014
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