Ian Lipkin has samples from animals for testing...and the hunt is away, like camels racing in the desert!

In a couple of Tweets from Jennifer Yang (@jyangstar; who writes for the Toronto Star) this morning, and from her article on MERS-CoV antibodies in camels, we heard some very encouraging news on the hunt for MERS-CoV origins and sources. 

One of the world's best virus hunters, Prof Ian Lipkin, has received 130 samples from animals and the molecular investigations to discover and characterise an animal host for the MERS-CoV (and probably a few other new viruses given the non-specific nature of the technologies available to him, and his traclk record) is now joined in earnest.

Further to last tweet: Ian Lipkin has just received 130 #MERS samples from KSA, including serum/swabs from 33 camels http://t.co/t6rymuqqA2
— Jennifer Yang (@jyangstar) August 8, 2013

and in a follow up.

@MackayIM Yep. Already running PCR; starting serology tomorrow.
— Jennifer Yang (@jyangstar) August 8, 2013

I'm certainly eager to see how Prof Lipkin's findings fit into with today's confirmation of a key role for camels in the transmission chain of MERS-CoV. More on that story shortly after the PDF becomes available from Lancet Diseases.