Updating the animal "to-do" list...

I have a couple of talks coming up, so I'm making graphics again. And I like to share those. 

This one is an update on some of the creatures that could also be considered suspects in the hunt for sources of MERS-CoV infection of humans.

Of course, camels are the ones we know to be a true risk for infection and there was that 1 bat that was positive for a very small diagnostic PCR product. Cattle contact was also recently listed, with little detail, as a significant risk factor among those acquiring MERS-CoV infection and we also know that cells from camels, horses, alpacas, cattle and goats can be infected and host genome or virus replication of MERS-CoV in the lab, or have the MERS-CoV cellular receptor, DPP4, on their surface.[1,2]

I heard that there will be more bat testing in the future, but we haven't read of any MERS-CoV targeted bat studies since 2013.

So here is the long laundry list of animal testing that needs more work - many of which have been tested in small numbers over limited time periods already - in a graphical form.

Click on image to enlarge.
You can also access this from Figshare.[3]

References...

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25656066
2. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/1/15-1340_article
3. http://figshare.com/articles/Creatures_of_interest_to_how_humans_acquire_a_MERS_CoV_infection/1609604