European researchers have announced the successful development of a vaccine that protects camels against the MERS coronavirus.
The vaccine could be tested in humans – but the researchers say that eradicating the virus in camels but help stem the outbreak in the Middle East.
A total of eight camels have been involved in trials in Spain.
The vaccine is based on the orthopoxvirus – Vaccinia Virus Ankara – as it expressed a key protein found in MERS-CoV.
Reporting in Science, the researchers say four vaccinated animals showed the presence of presence of antibodies to the virus and also "significantly" fewer viruses excreted from the respiratory tract than four unvaccinated animals.
All the animals were inoculated with MERS-CoV three weeks after the first vaccinations took place.
Some 584 people have died in outbreaks of MERS-CoV infection in the Middle East and South Korea while 1,621 cases of infection have been reported.
Researcher Joaquim Segalés, of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, said: "It could be that total protection against MERS-coronavirus will never be attained, since there is low-level virus replication in the upper respiratory tract even in the presence of specific antibodies, similarly to other respiratory viruses, like the SARS coronavirus.
"This is nonetheless a very significant step forward in the fight against this pathogen; now we need to delve more deeply into the duration of the immunity and dosage before applying it in real situations."
An orthopoxvirus-based vaccine reduces virus excretion after MERS-CoV infection in dromedary camels. Science 18 December 2015; doi: 10.1126/science.aad1283 [abstract]
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