Table 3.

Advantages and limitations of natural and potential intermediate hosts for MERS-CoV infection as experimental animal models as well as for transmission studies.

	Species	Advantages	Limitations
Camelids	Dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius)	•Natural host for MERS-CoV •Efficient animal-to-animal transmission (field studies)	•Expensive and limited availability •Complex husbandry requirements (large BSL3 facilities)
	Alpacas (Vicugna pacos)	•Potential surrogates for dromedaries under experimental conditions (potential hosts for MERS-CoV) •Efficient animal-to-animal transmission (experimental)	•Expensive and limited availability •Complex husbandry requirements (large BSL3 facilities)
	Llamas (Lama glama)	•Potential surrogates for dromedaries under experimental conditions (potential hosts for MERS-CoV)	•Expensive and limited availability •Complex husbandry requirements (large BSL3 facilities) •No animal-to-animal transmission studies available
Non-camelid domestic species	Domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus)	•Relative low cost and readily available •Ease handling •Potential surrogates for dromedaries under experimental conditions (potential hosts for MERS-CoV) •Animal-to-animal transmission (experimental) •Pig-specific immunological reagents are available	•Complex husbandry requirements (large BSL3 facilities) •Limited transmission (only via direct contact, and during few days) •Lower viral titers in NS and tissues upon infection
	Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)	•Low cost and readily available •Ease handling •Potential surrogates for dromedaries under experimental conditions (potential hosts for MERS-CoV) •Rabbit-specific immunological reagents are available	•No animal-to-animal transmission studies available •Lower viral titers in NS and tissues upon infection
NHP	Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)	•Human-specific immunological reagents are widely available •Clinical disease similar to humans: translational research (for intra species transmission)	•Expensive and limited availability •Complex husbandry requirements (large BSL3 facilities) •No animal-to-animal transmission studies available
	Common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)	•Some human-specific immunological reagents cross-react •Clinical disease similar to humans: translational research (for intra species transmission)	•Expensive and limited availability •Complex husbandry requirements (large BSL3 facilities); •No animal-to-animal transmission studies available

Abbreviations: BSL3, biosafety level 3; MERS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome; NHP, non-human primates; NS, nasal swabs.