MERS-CoV RNA detected in symptomatic camels in Kazakhstan

During a respiratory disease outbreak reported in late November 2025 in Kazakhstan’s Mangystau region, investigators collected nasopharyngeal swabs from 38 symptomatic camels between December 1 and 18. All samples tested positive for MERS-CoV RNA by quantitative RT-PCR using two targets. The sampled animals represented about 1.2% of the 3,190 camels registered in the affected rural district. Tests for several other viruses were negative. Four months later, swabs from 14 camels in previously affected herds were negative for MERS-CoV RNA.

Sequencing of one representative whole genome and four complete spike genes placed the viruses in clade B5, within the B5-2023.4 sublineage. They clustered with contemporary camel-derived viruses from Saudi Arabia; the whole-genome analysis also placed the Kazakhstan virus near camel viruses from Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The analysis identified two putative recombination events, but their significance is uncertain.

The findings provide molecular evidence of active MERS-CoV infection in Kazakhstan, where prior studies had not documented viral RNA. Sampling was limited to symptomatic animals and a small share of the district’s camel population. The available sequences cannot establish viral phenotype, transmissibility, or the risk of zoonotic transmission; the authors call for expanded surveillance and genomic characterization.