Scientists say that that Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is likely to have been transmitted from animals to humans on more than one occasion, according to a new study published in The Lancet.
The largest study of MERS-CoV so far has been conducted by researchers from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health, University College London (UCL) and UCL Partners, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
The researchers used advanced DNA analysis techniques in order to analyze the MERS-CoV genomes taken directly from 21 patients with MERS from different regions of Saudi Arabia.
The researchers say the techniques meant they were able to "reconstruct" where, when and how the virus has evolved.
This allowed them to determine whether the virus stemmed from one incidence of the virus passing from animal to human with subsequent transmission between humans, or whether the virus is passing between animals and humans repeatedly.
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