Department of Infectious Hazard Management, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.
Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Institute of Epidemiology, D-85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
Viruses. 2018 Aug 13;10(8):425. doi: 10.3390/v10080425.
Dromedary camels () are now known to be the vertebrate animal reservoir that intermittently transmits the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) to humans. Yet, details as to the specific mechanism(s) of zoonotic transmission from dromedaries to humans remain unclear. The aim of this study was to describe direct and indirect contact with dromedaries among all cases, and then separately for primary, non-primary, and unclassified cases of laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) between 1 January 2015 and 13 April 2018. We present any reported dromedary contact: direct, indirect, and type of indirect contact. Of all 1125 laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV cases reported to WHO during the time period, there were 348 (30.9%) primary cases, 455 (40.4%) non-primary cases, and 322 (28.6%) unclassified cases. Among primary cases, 191 (54.9%) reported contact with dromedaries: 164 (47.1%) reported direct contact, 155 (44.5%) reported indirect contact. Five (1.1%) non-primary cases also reported contact with dromedaries. Overall, unpasteurized milk was the most frequent type of dromedary product consumed. Among cases for whom exposure was systematically collected and reported to WHO, contact with dromedaries or dromedary products has played an important role in zoonotic transmission.
单峰骆驼（）现在被认为是一种脊椎动物宿主，它会间歇性地将中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）传播给人类。然而，单峰骆驼向人类传播人畜共患病的具体机制仍不清楚。本研究的目的是描述 2015 年 1 月 1 日至 2018 年 4 月 13 日期间向世界卫生组织（WHO）报告的所有实验室确诊的中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）病例中直接和间接接触单峰骆驼的情况，然后分别针对原发性、非原发性和未分类的病例进行描述。我们报告了所有报告的单峰骆驼接触情况：直接接触、间接接触和间接接触类型。在报告给 WHO 的所有 1125 例实验室确诊的中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒病例中，有 348 例（30.9%）为原发性病例，455 例（40.4%）为非原发性病例，322 例（28.6%）为未分类病例。在原发性病例中，有 191 例（54.9%）报告接触过单峰骆驼：164 例（47.1%）报告直接接触，155 例（44.5%）报告间接接触。有 5 例（1.1%）非原发性病例也报告了接触单峰骆驼。总体而言，未巴氏消毒的牛奶是最常消费的单峰骆驼产品。在那些接触情况被系统收集并报告给 WHO 的病例中，与单峰骆驼或单峰骆驼产品的接触在人畜共患病传播中发挥了重要作用。
