Introduction
Since the 1930s, members of the family Coronaviridae have been
identified in humans and many different animal species, such as cats,
dogs, horses, pigs, cattle, mice, and fowl . In the last 20 years, three
zoonotic coronaviruses have emerged into the human population:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV)
in 2003, Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus(MERS-CoV) in 2012, and most recently, SARS-CoV-2 in 2019, which led to
the so far most devastating pandemic of the 21stcentury . Since 2012, MERS-CoV has been detected in 27 countries, with
84.0 % of cases found in Saudi Arabia, and a case fatality ratio of
approximately 34.5 % (WHO, 2019). Similar to other coronaviruses,
MERS-CoV presumably originated from bats; however, the main reservoir
and primary source of human infections are dromedaries (Camelus
dromedarius ) . Although dromedaries usually remain asymptomatic, or
develop only mild symptoms due to MERS-CoV infection, it has been shown
that they can shed considerable amount of virus . Studies on Bactrian
camels (Camelus bactrianus ), hybrid camels, alpacas
(Vicugna pacos ), llamas (Lama glama ), and even pigs
(Sus scrofa ), have revealed that these animals are also
susceptible to MERS-CoV infection (Adney et al., 2019; Lau et al., 2020;
Reusken et al., 2016; Vergara-Alert et al., 2017). In contrast, studies
on sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and chickens have indicated that,
although sheep and goats may produce antibodies to MERS-CoV, none of
these species effectively shed the virus (Adney et al., 2016; Hemida et
al., 2013; Reusken, Ababneh et al., 2013; Vergara-Alert et al., 2017). A
study about domestic mammals in contact with infected dromedaries found
MERS-CoV nucleic acid in nasal swabs not only from sheep and goats, but
also from a cow and donkeys (Kandeil et al., 2019). To provide more
information about the potential exposure and infection of other
livestock, we performed a survey for MERS-CoV at a livestock market in
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as live animal markets are known to be
common sources of virus spillover.