Blocking transmission of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in llamas by vaccination with a recombinant spike protein
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Author
Rodon, Jordi
Okba, Nisreen M. A.
Te, Nigeer
van Dieren, Brenda
Bosch, Berend-Jan
Haagmans, Bart L.
Vergara-Alert, Júlia
Publication date
2019-11-12ISSN
2222-1751
Abstract
The ongoing Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreaks pose a worldwide public health threat. Blocking MERS-CoV zoonotic transmission from dromedary camels, the animal reservoir, could potentially reduce the number of primary human cases. Here we report MERS-CoV transmission from experimentally infected llamas to naïve animals. Directly inoculated llamas shed virus for at least 6 days and could infect all in-contact naïve animals 4-5 days after exposure. With the aim to block virus transmission, we examined the efficacy of a recombinant spike S1-protein vaccine. In contrast to naïve animals, in-contact vaccinated llamas did not shed infectious virus upon exposure to directly inoculated llamas, consistent with the induction of strong virus neutralizing antibody responses. Our data provide further evidence that vaccination of the reservoir host may impede MERS-CoV zoonotic transmission to humans.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
619 - Veterinary science
Pages
12
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Open
Is part of
Emerging Microbes and Infections
Citation
Rodon, Jordi, Nisreen M. A. Okba, Nigeer Te, Brenda van Dieren, Berend-Jan Bosch, Albert Bensaid, Joaquim Segalés, Bart L. Haagmans, and Júlia Vergara-Alert. 2019. "Blocking Transmission Of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-Cov) In Llamas By Vaccination With A Recombinant Spike Protein". Emerging Microbes & Infections 8 (1): 1593-1603. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/22221751.2019.1685912.
Grant agreement number
EC/PF7/115760/EU/Zoonotic Anticipation and Preparedness Initiative/ZAPI
EC/H2020/731014/EU/Veterinary Biocontained facility Network for excellence in animal infectiology research and experimentation /VetBioNet
Program
Sanitat Animal
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2820]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/