MERS virus has been transmitted from animals to humans

British and Saudi scientists have reported the results of genetic analysis of some Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) virus samples, showing that the disease has been spread from animals to humans.

The findings, published in the medical journal Lancet, may help scientists understand the transmission mechanism and outline the relationship between these strains.

MERS coronavirus (which is similar to the SARS pandemic such as fever, cough, dyspnea) appeared in 2012 in the Gulf and spread to France, Germany, Italy, Tunisia, England . According to the system According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 132 people so far and 58 people have died, the majority of deaths are concentrated in Saudi Arabia.

Professor Paul Kellam, of the Sanger Institute and University of London (UCL) in the UK, who chaired the study, said that it was found that different strains of this human disease virus originated from a virus in animals. .

His colleagues compared and analyzed the genes of MERS-CoV samples taken from 21 Saudi patients, then combined the patient's geographic location with the time of infection and those. Differences in genes between viral strains. The results of the study clearly describe how the virus spreads and how its strains change over time.

Although the results of this study do not help scientists predict whether MERS is easily spread between people, as well as becoming pandemics such as SARS in Asia before, but somewhat supportive. Help health professionals develop more effective infection control therapies to prevent its spread.

Currently, many scientists around the world are also conducting research on MERS on potentially infected animals such as goats, sheep, dogs, cats, rodents . Some recent studies suggest that This virus originates from bats and camels, but there is no definitive evidence to confirm which species is the "intermediate vector" of MERS.

Professor Ali Zumla, of UCL's Department of Infectious Diseases, said that since the discovery of MERS-CoV more than a year ago, two major events attracted over 8 million pilgrims took place in Mecca, Saudi Arabia - including an annual pilgrimage festival in October 2012 and a month of fasting Ramadan in July 2013, but so far no cases of MERS-CoV have been detected.

According to him, despite the wide spread risk and with useful findings on the gene, strict control and precautions need to be followed.