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Research, Policy and Practice

Fig. 4 | Pastoralism

Fig. 4

From: Short report on implications of Covid-19 and emerging zoonotic infectious diseases for pastoralists and Africa

Fig. 4

Emergence of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Bats harbour a wide range of coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-like and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)-like viruses. SARS-CoV crossed the species barrier into masked palm civets and other animals in live-animal markets and genetic analysis suggests that this occurred in late 2002. Several people in close proximity to palm civets became infected with SARS-CoV. A MERS-CoV ancestral virus crossed the species barrier into dromedary camels; serological evidence suggests that this happened more than 30 years ago. Abundant circulation of MERS-CoV in dromedary camels results in frequent zoonotic transmission of this virus. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV spread between humans mainly through nosocomial (hospital-acquired) transmission (Source de Wit et al. 2016)

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