Studies on the Middle East Respiratory Coronavirus in dromedary camels in Ethiopia

• Project/Area Number: 17H04642
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 海外学術
• Research Field: Veterinary medical science
• Research Institution: National Institute of Infectious Diseases
• Principal Investigator: Shirato Kazuya 国立感染症研究所, ウイルス第三部, 主任研究官 (40415477)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 泉對 博 日本大学, 生物資源科学部, 教授 (10355167)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
• Budget Amount: ¥13,780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥10,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,180,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥5,980,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,380,000)
• Keywords: MERS / MERS-CoV / ヒトコブラクダ / エチオピア / MERSコロナウイルス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

MERS-CoV is common in dromedaries throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and East Africa as evidenced by neutralizing antibodies against MERS-CoV; however, human cases have remained limited to the Middle East. To study the cause of this difference, the virological properties of African camel MERS-CoV were analyzed based on the spike (S) protein in Ethiopia. Nasal swabs were collected from 258 young dromedaries in the Afar region, of which 39 were positive for MERS-CoV, as confirmed by genetic tests. Recombinant EMC isolates of MERS-CoV, in which the S protein is replaced with those of Amibara isolates, were generated. Amibara S recombinants replicated more slowly in cultured cells than in EMC S recombinants. In neutralizing assays, Amibara S recombinants were neutralized by lower concentrations of sera from both Ethiopian dromedaries and EMC isolate-immunized mouse sera. These results suggest that these differences may account for the absence of human MERS-CoV cases in Ethiopia.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

MERSの発症例が中東に限定され、アフリカから報告されていない原因は公衆衛生状態の差、検査体制の差など社会的な差であると考えられていた。今回の報告でそれぞれの地域で存在しているウイルスのウイルス学的特徴が違うことも、ヒトで報告がない原因である可能性が示唆された。

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] Addis Ababa Sci. and Tech. Univ./Ministry of Science and Technology(エチオピア)
• [Int'l Joint Research] Addis Ababa Sci. and Tech. Univ./Ministry of Science and Technology(Ethiopia)
• [Journal Article] Development of Genetic Diagnostic Methods for Detection for Novel Coronavirus 2019(nCoV-2019) in Japan (2020)
  • Author(s): Kazuya Shirato, Naganori Nao, Harutaka Katano, Ikuyo Takayama, Shinji Saito, Fumihiro Kato, Hiroshi Katoh, Masafumi Sakata, Yuichiro Nakatsu, Yoshio Mori, Tsutomu Kageyama, Shutoku Matsuyama, Makoto Takeda
  • Journal Title: Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases Volume: 73 Issue: 4 Pages: 304-307
  • DOI: 10.7883/yoken.JJID.2020.061
  • NAID: 130007879354
  • ISSN: 1344-6304, 1884-2836
  • Year and Date: 2020-07-31
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Ultra-Rapid Real-Time RT-PCR Method for Detecting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Using a Mobile PCR Device, PCR1100 (2020)
  • Author(s): Kazuya Shirato, Naganori Nao, Shutoku Matsuyama, and Tsutomu Kageyama
  • Journal Title: Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases Volume: 73 Issue: 3 Pages: 181-186
  • DOI: 10.7883/yoken.JJID.2019.400
  • NAID: 130007845449
  • ISSN: 1344-6304, 1884-2836
  • Year and Date: 2020-05-29
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus in dromedaries in Ethiopia is antigenically different from the Middle East isolate EMC (2019)
  • Author(s): Kazuya Shirato, Simenew Keskes Melaku, Kengo Kawachi, Naganori Nao, Naoko Iwata-Yoshikawa, Miyuki Kawase, Wataru Kamitani, Shutoku Matsuyama, Tesfaye Sisay Tessema, Hiroshi Sentsui
  • Journal Title: Frontiers in Microbiology Volume: 10 Pages: 1326-1326
  • DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01326
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Development of Fluorescent Reverse Transcription Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP) using Quenching probes for the detection of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (2018)
  • Author(s): Kazuya Shirato*, Shohei Semba, Sherif A. El-Kafrawy, Ahmed M. Hassan, Ahmed M. Tolah, Ikuyo Takayama, Tsutomu Kageyama, Tsugunori Notomi, Wataru Kamitani, Shutoku Matsuyama and Esam Ibraheem Azhar
  • Journal Title: Journal of Virological Methods Volume: in press
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Presentation] エチオピアのヒトコブラクダから分離された中東呼吸器症候群コロナウイルスの病原性は中東分離株であるEMC株と異なる (2019)
  • Author(s): 白戸憲也、Simenew Keskes Melaku, 河内健吾、直亨則、岩田奈織子、川瀬みゆき、神谷亘、松山州徳、Tesfaye Sisay Tessema、泉對博
  • Organizer: 第162回日本獣医学会学術集会
• [Presentation] Characterization of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus in dromedary camels in Ethiopia (2018)
  • Author(s): Kazuya Shirato, Simenew KesKes Melaku, Kengo Kawachi, Naganori Nao, Shutoku Matsuyama, Wataru Kamitani, Tesfaye Sisay Tessema and Hiroshi Sentsui
  • Organizer: 第66回日本ウイルス学会学術集会
• [Presentation] Development of Fluorescent Reverse Transcription Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP) using Quenching probes for the detection of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (2018)
  • Author(s): Kazuya Shirato, Shohei Semba, Sherif A. El-Kafrawy, Ahmed M. Hassan, Ahmed M. Tolah, Ikuyo Takayama, Tsutomu Kageyama, Tsugunori Notomi, Wataru Kamitani, Shutoku Matsuyama and Esam Ibraheem Azhar
  • Organizer: American Society for Virology 37th Annual Meeting
  • Int'l Joint Research