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. 2016 Aug 19;8(8):230.
doi: 10.3390/v8080230.

Inoculation of Goats, Sheep, and Horses with MERS-CoV Does Not Result in Productive Viral Shedding

Danielle R Adney  1 , Vienna R Brown  2 , Stephanie M Porter  3 , Helle Bielefeldt-Ohmann  4 , Airn E Hartwig  5 , Richard A Bowen  6   7
Affiliations

Inoculation of Goats, Sheep, and Horses with MERS-CoV Does Not Result in Productive Viral Shedding

Danielle R Adney et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was first recognized in 2012 and can cause severe disease in infected humans. Dromedary camels are the reservoir for the virus, although, other than nasal discharge, these animals do not display any overt clinical disease. Data from in vitro experiments suggest that other livestock such as sheep, goats, and horses might also contribute to viral transmission, although field data has not identified any seropositive animals. In order to understand if these animals could be infected, we challenged young goats and horses and adult sheep with MERS-CoV by intranasal inoculation. Minimal or no virus shedding was detected in all of the animals. During the four weeks following inoculation, neutralizing antibodies were detected in the young goats, but not in sheep or horses.

Keywords: MERS; goat; horse; reservoir host; sheep.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) shedding in Goats. Virus isolation from nasal swab specimens from experimentally infected goat kids or their co-housed dam. Goat kids 1c and 2a were euthanized day 5 post-infection. The limit of detection for this assay was 1.5 log10 PFU/mL, indicated as a dashed line.
Figure 2
Figure 2
MERS-CoV viral load in goats experimentally infected. Tissues from goat kids 1c and 2a were collected at necropsy 5 days post-infection and viral load was determined by plaque assay of tissue homogenates. The limit of detection for this assay is 1.5 log10 PFU/g, indicated by the dashed line.
Figure 3
Figure 3
MERS-CoV Shedding in Sheep. Virus isolation was performed by plaque assay from nasal swab specimens obtained from sheep experimentally infected with MERS-CoV. The limit of detection for this assay was 1.5 log10 PFU/mL, indicated by the dashed line.
Figure 4
Figure 4
MERS-CoV Shedding in Horses. Virus isolation was performed by plaque assay from nasal swab specimens obtained from horses experimentally infected with MERS-CoV. The limit of detection for this assay is 1.5 log10 PFU/mL, indicated by the dashed line.
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