SARS-like virus found in air samples from Saudi Arabia

In a finding that has shocked scientists, a SARS-like virus has been detected in a Saudi Arabian camel barn, which opens up the possibility of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus (MERS-CoV) being capable of transmission through the air.

There is currently no treatment or vaccine for the affliction which has an estimated fatality rate of 30 per cent.

Researchers in Saudi Arabia detected genetic fragments in the air in a barn housing a camel infected with the virus.

According to the World Health Organization, MERS, a serious viral respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus had been identified in 699 people till 11 June. Of these, 209 people died from the condition.

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health, on 3 June, reported an additional 113 cases that occurred between 2012 and 2014.

On three consecutive days last November researchers collected three air samples from a camel barn owned by a 43-year-old male MERS patient who lived south of the town of Jeddah, and who later succumbed to the condition.

Of the nine camels owned by the man, four had shown signs of nasal discharge. He had then applied topical medicine to the nostrils of the ill animals. A week later he developed symptoms of the disease.

The vast majority of human infection cases have been reported from Saudi Arabia, but there had been reports of isolated MERS cases in Europe, Asia and the US in people who had recently travelled in the Middle East or had links to the place.

Scientists have not yet been able to establish the origin of the virus, but several studies had linked it to camels and according to some experts humans were contracting the disease from close physical contact or through the consumption of camel meat or camel milk.

However, with the latest study, published in the online journal of the American Society for Microbiology, mBio, scientists said the detection of the virus in air samples was worrying and needed to be followed up.

The clear message here was that detection of airborne MERS-CoV molecules, which were 100-per cent identical with the viral genomic sequence detected from a camel actively shedding the virus in the same barn on the same day, warranted further investigations and measures to prevent possible airborne transmission of this deadly virus, www.todaonline.com reported  Esam Azhar, an associate professor of medical virology at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah who led the study as saying.