Journal Article

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) causes transient lower respiratory tract infection in rhesus macaques

Benecke, Arndt G., Feldmann, Heinz, Falzarano, Darryl, Rasmussen, Angela L., Feldmann, Friederike, Okumura, Atsushi, Chang, Jean, Brining, Douglas L., Scott, Dana, Munster, Vincent J., Martellaro, Cynthia, Bushmaker, Trenton, Fischer, Elizabeth R., de Wit, Emmie, Katze, Michael G.

2013

Overview

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.

• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences,NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,National Acad Sciences
• Subject: animal disease models / Animal diseases / Animals / Biological Sciences / chemokines / Communicable Diseases, Emerging - virology / Coronavirus / Disease models / Disease Models, Animal / disease severity / Disease transmission / gene expression / humans / Immunization / Lesions / Life Sciences / Lung - pathology / Lung - virology / Lungs / Macaca mulatta / Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus / Monkeys & apes / Neurons and Cognition / Neutrophils / Pathogenesis / Pneumocytes / pneumonia / Pulmonary alveoli / Respiratory diseases / Respiratory tract / Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - pathology / Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - virology / Species Specificity / tissue culture / tissues / Viral RNA / viral shedding / Virion - ultrastructure / virus replication / Virus Replication - physiology / Virus Shedding - physiology / Viruses