Cairo, Egypt - Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Disease (ECTAD) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO-Egypt) has conducted practical training course for staff from General Organization for Veterinary Services (GOVS) and Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), on sampling methods and procedures for MERS-CoV testing and to use the new sampling guidelines prepared by MERS-CoV team at FAO Rome.

The training has been conducted from 29th to 30th July 2019 and delivered by Dr. Ihab El-Masry, FAO-HQ Rome, aiming to strengthen the technical capacity of field teams from GOVS and AHRI on camel sample collection from slaughterhouses using the new FAO camel sampling guidelines.

The specific objectives of practical training course were:

• Understand the unique anatomical and histological features of camel nasal cavity and lymph nodes, and its influence on the sampling process.
• Recognize the main sampling errors and biosecurity flaws that may affect RT-PCR results.
• Demonstrate collection of swab samples from the turbinate and rectum of live camel.
• Demonstrate collection of turbinate and lymph node specimens from camels after slaughter. 

“This training was organized under the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats 2 (EPT 2) Program, FAO Component , to set up team work and equip specialized laboratories to strengthen the technical capacity of field teams on camel sample collection from slaughterhouses using the new FAO sampling guidelines” Toni Ettel, Program Coordinator at FAO Egypt.

The training included organizing a field visit to governmental slaughterhouses for camels in, Giza Governorate; where the trainees practically applied the new sampling protocol. This training is considered as a Training of trainers to expend this new sampling protocol to larger number of field technical teams.

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is viral respiratory illness that was recently recognized in humans. It was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread to several other countries, including the United States. Most people identified as infected with MERS-CoV developed severe acute respiratory illness, including fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Up to date 645 case died out of 1813 infected. Dromedary camels confirmed by several studies to be the reservoir of MERS-CoV in humans. Zoonotic transmission reported in multiple occasions.