On-site detection of MERS-CoV infections in a camel slaughterhouse in Kenya using a commercial rapid antigen test.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) poses a significant public health risk, with dromedary camels being the primary reservoir hosts. Regular and systematic surveillance for MERS-CoV is limited by the lack of extensively validated, rapid, field-deployable diagnostic tools.

Objective

We aimed to validate and implement a commercial MERS-CoV antigen test kit (Bionote, South Korea) for field surveillance of MERS-CoV in Kenya.

Methods

We evaluated whether the Bionote MERS-CoV rapid antigen test can discriminate between two different MERS-CoV isolates representing clades A (EMC/2012) and C (Kenya/9954). We conducted an assay performance evaluation using 2,736 archived camel nasal swab samples with defined MERS-CoV RNA concentrations (10^3</

SUBMITTER: Ogoti BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12477690 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature