Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) causes transient lower respiratory tract infection in rhesus macaques
Emmie de Wit, Angela L Rasmussen, Darryl Falzarano, Trenton Bushmaker, Friederike Feldmann, Douglas L Brining, Elizabeth R Fischer, Cynthia Martellaro, Atsushi Okumura, Jean Chang, Dana Scott, Arndt G Benecke, Michael G Katze, Heinz Feldmann, Vincent J Munster, Emmie de Wit, Angela L Rasmussen, Darryl Falzarano, Trenton Bushmaker, Friederike Feldmann, Douglas L Brining, Elizabeth R Fischer, Cynthia Martellaro, Atsushi Okumura, Jean Chang, Dana Scott, Arndt G Benecke, Michael G Katze, Heinz Feldmann, Vincent J Munster
Abstract
In 2012, a novel betacoronavirus, designated Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus or MERS-CoV and associated with severe respiratory disease in humans, emerged in the Arabian Peninsula. To date, 108 human cases have been reported, including cases of human-to-human transmission. The availability of an animal disease model is essential for understanding pathogenesis and developing effective countermeasures. Upon a combination of intratracheal, ocular, oral, and intranasal inoculation with 7 × 10(6) 50% tissue culture infectious dose of the MERS-CoV isolate HCoV-EMC/2012, rhesus macaques developed a transient lower respiratory tract infection. Clinical signs, virus shedding, virus replication in respiratory tissues, gene expression, and cytokine and chemokine profiles peaked early in infection and decreased over time. MERS-CoV caused a multifocal, mild to marked interstitial pneumonia, with virus replication occurring mainly in alveolar pneumocytes. This tropism of MERS-CoV for the lower respiratory tract may explain the severity of the disease observed in humans and the, up to now, limited human-to-human transmission.
Keywords: DPP4; emerging infectious disease.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Source: PubMed