MERS CoV accessory proteins interfere with interferon...

Paper from 2014.[1]

This concept (see the paper adjacent and others [6,7]) is not news in the world of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), but it’s interesting to remember in light of some comments that came out of the combined World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) #tackleMERS meeting in Geneva last week.

The comments, in tweets, were about a talk given by Prof. Malik Peiris…

#tackleMERS malik peiris on differences beteeen viruses from clade a and b, with viruses from different parts of africa, clade c

— Marion Koopmans (@MarionKoopmans) September 26, 2017

#tackleMERS c1 viruses, have deletions in orf 4b which is target for innate immunity. Are found widely, nigeria, burkina faso, marocco

— Marion Koopmans (@MarionKoopmans) September 26, 2017

#tackleMERS deletions not found in eastern african viruses. Truncation of phosphodiesterase domain. Are these viruses different?

— Marion Koopmans (@MarionKoopmans) September 26, 2017

I was left wondering if another of the reasons we may not have seen MERS cases in humans in Africa – where there are known MERS-CoV variants present in camels [3-5] – could be that the virus has less “well developed” abilities (assumptions galore) to interfere with human responses to it. In other words, infections do happen but with viruses that may be more easily defeated by human early immune responses to a foreign viral invader. Humans in Africa may be able to more effectively clear out any spillover infections due to their viral variants than can humans in the Arabian peninsula infected by MERS-CoV variants that are better at evading innate responses and allowing the virus to establish, mostly showing its presence in those with pre-existing disease of the heart, lungs or kidneys.

Other reasons for few signs of MERS in Africa were nicely summarised here…

People have probably caught MERS in Africa but the absence of outbreaks recorded there may be due to poor disease surveillance, less contact with camels, or lower rates of underlying conditions like obesity and heart problems that make MERS more severe. [2]

Just some thoughts.

References…

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MERS CoV accessory proteins interfere with interferon…

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