The ongoing Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreaks pose a worldwide public health threat. Blocking MERS-CoV zoonotic transmission from dromedary camels, the animal reservoir, could potentially reduce the number of primary human cases. Here we report MERS-CoV transmission from experimentally infected llamas to naïve animals. Directly inoculated llamas shed virus for at least 6 days and could infect all in-contact naïve animals 4-5 days after exposure. With the aim to block virus transmission, we examined the efficacy of a recombinant spike S1-protein vaccine. In contrast to naïve animals, in-contact vaccinated llamas did not shed infectious virus upon exposure to directly inoculated llamas, consistent with the induction of strong virus neutralizing antibody responses. Our data provide further evidence that vaccination of the reservoir host may impede MERS-CoV zoonotic transmission to humans.

中文翻译：

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通过接种重组刺突蛋白疫苗来阻止中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）在美洲驼中的传播。

正在进行中的中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）爆发构成了全球公共卫生威胁。阻止动物骆驼（骆驼）（动物水库）的MERS-CoV人畜共患病传播可能会减少人类原发病例的数量。在这里，我们报道了MERS冠状病毒从实验感染的美洲驼到幼稚动物的传播。直接接种的美洲驼至少会感染病毒6天，并可能在接触后4-5天感染所有接触过的幼稚动物。为了阻止病毒传播，我们检查了重组加标S1蛋白疫苗的功效。与幼稚动物相反，接触直接接种的美洲驼在暴露于直接接种的美洲驼时不会散发传染性病毒，这与诱导强烈的病毒中和抗体反应一致。