SUMMARY
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), caused by MERS Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is one of recently emerged coronaviruses that cause severe respiratory infections and were associated with major outbreaks worldwide. Among the three emerged coronaviruses, MERS-CoV is considered the most lethal with a mortality rate of approximately 34.4% of all cases. Coronaviruses have long been known to infect humans and several animal species, causing systemic infections of respiratory airways, intestine, liver, and nervous system. Available evidences showed camels are the possible source of the virus to human infections. Once it establishes, human-to-human transmission has resulted in clusters of cases, some associated with multiple rounds of human-to-human transmission. MERS-CoV is enzootic in Dromedary Camel across the Arabian Peninsula and in parts of Africa, causing mild upper respiratory tract illness in its camel reservoir and sporadic, but relatively rare human infections. Precisely how virus transmits to humans remains unknown but close and lengthy exposure to infected camels appears to be the most important predisposing factor for zoonotic transmission. Camels sera collected from a number of countries have been found to have antibodies to MERS- CoV and African countries are considered as a possible source for the establishment of MERS- CoV in Middle East. In Ethiopia, high sero-prevalence of MERS-CoV has been reported in camel population ranging from 93% to 97%. In spite of high seropositivity, only few studies were carried out in Ethiopia on viral isolation and molecular characterization of the virus from camel. Recently study confirmed that unlike the West African MERS-CoV virus the Ethiopian camel MERS-CoV showed a genetic and phenotypic similarity with isolates from camel of Arabian Peninsula suggesting a potential significance for zoonotic transmission to high risk human population of Ethiopia. Thus the objective of thispaper to review the current seroprevalence of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus in camels of Ethiopia, To perform a comprehensive document on the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus in Ethiopia and To update the information about potential risk factors and public health significance of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus in status in Ethiopia in order to highlight the gap for future research.
Keywords: Review, Globally, Ethiopia MERS-CoV, Dromedary camels,