While it may sound a bit like sending coal to Newcastle, every year Saudi Arabia (along with a number of other Middle Eastern countries) import camels from other regions of the world, notably North Africa and Australia.  

Camels are a prized source of meat, and many are sacrificed for religious festivals, requiring a constant re-supply. 

The concern is, camels are a known host for a number of infectious diseases, including MERS-CoV, which has spilled over to more than 2500 people since 2012, killing roughly 35%.  While MERS-CoV reports have declined since 2019, the virus hasn't gone away (see May 2024  https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2024/05/who-don-on-mers-cov-cluster-in-saudi.html - WHO DON on MERS-COV Cluster In Saudi Arabia ).

This sharp decline in MERS-CoV cases over the past five years has attributed to a number of factors, including the adoption of pandemic precautions, and potential immunity gained by COVID infection or via the COVID vaccine (see CIDRAP  https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/mers-cov/covid-vaccine-may-boost-antibody-response-mers-other-coronaviruses - COVID vaccine may boost antibody response to MERS, other coronaviruses ).

But coronaviruses are highly mutable, and have the potential to recombine into new variants, which raises concerns over the co-circulation of MERS-CoV along with COVID, and other coronaviruses (see https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/03/nature-cov-recombination-potential-need.html -   https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/03/nature-cov-recombination-potential-need.html - Nature: CoV Recombination Potential & The Need For the Development of Pan-CoV Vaccines) .

Today we've a study - published in Cureus - on the incidence of non-MERS coronaviruses detected in imported camels from Sudan (n = 225) and Djibouti (n = 112), sampled at their port of entry between 2016-2017. 

The authors report finding a diverse array of coronaviruses with zoonotic potential, which in their words:

This suggests that camel importation could introduce new, divergent CoVs into Saudi Arabia, potentially leading to recombination events and increased viral diversity.

Over the years we've looked at a number of non-MERS and non-SARS coronaviruses with zoonotic potential that are often found in bats, swine and even cattle.  A few examples include:

• In 2014, in  https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2014/06/secd-another-emerging-coronavirus-threat.html - SECD: Another Emerging Coronavirus Threat  - in the wake of several newly discovered coronaviruses detected in North American swine - we looked at growing concerns that some porcine-adapted coronaviruses might have zoonotic potential, given the similar physiology between our two species.  

• In the summer of 2017 we looked at paper published in the   http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2017/06/eid-journal-new-bat-hku2like.html - EID Journal: A New Bat-HKU2–like Coronavirus in Swine, China, 2017,  on the recent discovery of a new HKU2-like coronavirus in Chinese pigs showing symptoms of PED (Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea), which they tentatively named porcine enteric alphacoronavirus (PEAV). 

• And summer, in a letter published in the Journal of Medical Virology, Chinese scientists made a case for the  https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/07/j-med-virology-potential-cross-species.html - Potential Cross-Species Transmission Risks of Emerging Swine Enteric Coronavirus to Human Beings .

A single vaccine has been shown to protect people from both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses — and with a higher effectiveness than vaccines that target one or the other, the pharmaceutical company Moderna has announced.

Moderna, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts,  https://investors.modernatx.com/news/news-details/2024/Moderna-Announces-Positive-Phase-3-Data-for-Combination-Vaccine-Against-Influenza-and-COVID-19-/default.aspx - said earlier this month  that it had successfully completed phase-III clinical trials for the drug, which — like the company’s pioneering COVID-19 vaccines — is based on mRNA. In a statement to its investors, Moderna said that the vaccine was more effective at providing immunity to adults over the age of 50 than competing flu and COVID-19 shots.

Moderna is now planning to seek approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bring the vaccine to market.

Preprint: Ongoing Evolution of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2023-2024

So, while it doesn't get the media attention it once did, we continue to keep an eye on this continually evolving coronavirus threat (see last May's  https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2024/05/who-don-on-mers-cov-cluster-in-saudi.html - WHO DON on MERS-COV Cluster In Saudi Arabia ). 

Last June, in  https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2024/07/cureus-circulation-of-non-mers.html - Cureus: Circulation of Non-(MERS) Coronaviruses in Imported Camels in Saudi Arabia , we looked at a study which found a diverse array of coronaviruses with zoonotic potential in imported camels.  The authors wrote:

They also report finding 229E-related human coronaviruses (which cause the `common cold'), co-circulating in dromedaries. 

-

MERS-CoV isn't the only non-COVID coronavirus that we are watching.  A few recent blogs include:

https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2024/08/preprint-human-cell-adaptation-of-swine.html - Preprint: Human Cell adaptation of the Swine Acute Diarrhea Syndrome Coronavirus Spike Protein

https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/07/j-med-virology-potential-cross-species.html - J. Med. Virology: Potential Cross-Species Transmission Risks of Emerging Swine Enteric Coronavirus to Human Beings

https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/01/nature-comparative-susceptibility-of.html - Nature: Comparative Susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV Across Mammals

A reminder that nature's laboratory is open 24/7, and it is continually tinkering with a seemingly ever-growing array of zoonotic threats. 

Current situation: JN.1 sub-variant KP.3 most prevalent in the Netherlands

 Since week 48 of 2023, BA.2.86 sub-variant JN.1 has been dominant in the Netherlands. Pathogen surveillance shows that several JN.1 sub-variants are currently  circulating, including KP.2 and KP.3. Sub-variant KP.3 is currently most prevalent. The sub-variants that are currently circulating show many genetic differences compared to previous variants that were in circulation, and are therefore being closely monitored worldwide. At this time, there are no indications that these sub-variants would be more likely to cause severe illness compared to previous Omicron sub-variants. 

The trends seen in wastewater generally correspond to the trends observed in pathogen surveillance. At this time, wastewater surveillance mainly shows the presence of JN.1 and its sub-variants, with KP.3 sub-variants in the lead.

“The virus is mutating to eventually become more pathogenic because you can see the fusogenicity is increasing”.

A hugely impressive scientific deep-dive video from Dr. Mikolaj Raszek on the topic of whether SARS-CoV-2 is likely to become more or less pathogenic over time.

Dr Raszek’s sobering research has led him to believe that recent mutations of SARS-CoV-2- may make it MORE pathogenic in future, not less.

A long and detailed examination of the structure of the virus and the changing shape of its spike protein has led, in this case, to some quite disturbing conclusions.

The video is well worth watching right to the end. This is quite possibly the most important debate on the future of the pandemic being discussed right now.

Our opinion is that, after nearly five years of covering this topic, we have yet to see the worst SARS-CoV-2 variant.