Researchers find MERS-CoV related Coronavirus in Bats in Africa (map)
In an upcoming article in Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers are reporting that a coronavirus sample from a bat in South Africa is currently the closest match to the MERS-CoV that has infected more than 90 people around the world since 2012. [1] The sample, PML/2011 , was collected from a female Neoromicia zuluensis bat in 2011. The genus Neoromicia is included in the Vespertilionidae bat family. Because this sample was collected before the human outbreak, the authors suggest that MERS-CoV may have originated in bat populations in eastern or southern Africa and spread to the Arabian Peninsula. This new development means that surveillance for human MERS-CoV cases need to be expanded beyond the Arabian Peninsula into Africa as well. Additional coronavirus research on Vespertilionidae bats in Kenya and surrounding countries is urgently needed. [1] Ithete NL, Stoffberg S, Corman VM, Cottontail VM, Richards LR, Schoeman MC, et al. Close relative ...