MoH: Too early to link MERS infections to camels

The possible link between camels and infection with coronavirus (MERS) is under close scrutiny. “The ministry is regularly following up the new development of the virus,” Khaled Marghalani, official spokesman for the Ministry of Health and general supervisor for communications and health awareness told local media.
He noted that Dr. Zeyad Memish, the MoH undersecretary for public health and a member of the International Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO), is following up any news about the virus on a global level.
The study, which linked the virus with camels, was conducted at a research center in the Netherlands.
“The study indicated that evidence and indicators show that the antibodies of the virus found in the blood of camels are very similar. Several studies were conducted in this regard in Amman, Chile, Spain and the Netherlands. These showed that MERS might come from camels. However, the study did tests on a limited sample of the blood of healthy, uninfected camels,” said Marghalani.
He added that the WHO is the only organization with directive powers in this regard. “The only way to make sure that the virus in camels is the same that infect people is to test the virus in infected camels with the scientific laboratory tests,” he added.
He confirmed that the WHO recalled that all past cases of MERS were not linked with camels, saying that it is too soon to say that camels are the source of the infection cases. “But the aforementioned study provides one way to know the source of infection and offer an indicator for further studies on the subject,” he added.
The question remains, according to the WHO, was how did the virus get transferred to humans?
The WHO did not issue any directions or warnings regarding dealing with camels.