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We found the first proof of MERS jumping from camels to humans in Somalia, even though they have a third of the world's camels.

March 24, 2026

Original Paper

First evidence of zoonotic spillover of MERS-CoV into occupationally exposed populations in Somalia

Warsame, M.; Aden, J.; Simniceanu, A.; Lubogo, M.; Cheng, S. M.; Hussein, M. M.; Mohamed, S. I.; Abdikadir, A. O.; Ahmed, A. M.; Ahmed, A. Y.; Ahmed, A. M.; Ali, A. A.; Ali, A. M.; Ali, O. A.; Arif, A. M.; Bujeti, A. A.; Farah, A. J.; Hanafi, A. M. H.; Hassan, A. M.; Hassan, A. A.; Hassan, M. A.; Ho, J. C.; Hussein, F. A.; Hussein, H. A.; Jama, B. A.; Li, J. K.; Mohamed, M. A.; Mohamoud, M. A.; Mohamud, O. M.; El Naja, H. A.; Nuur, M. B.; Said, O. A.; Salad, A. A.; Al Sayafi, A.; Shurie, A. N. F.; Van Kerkhove, M. D.; Barakat, A.; Biday, M. M.; Peiris, M.; McCabe, R.; von Dobschuetz, S.

medRxiv · 10.64898/2026.03.17.26348312

The Takeaway

Somalia has the highest density of camels on Earth, yet zoonotic spillover of the deadly MERS virus had never been documented there. This 'missing link' discovery suggests the virus is moving into human populations in East Africa far more frequently than global surveillance had previously captured.

From the abstract

Dromedary camels are the main reservoir for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a re-emerging infectious disease with pandemic potential. Somalia harbours approximately 32% of dromedary camels globally. We investigated current and past MERS-CoV infections among occupationally-exposed workers in slaughterhouses, dairy farms, livestock markets and a quarantine station. Sera and nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs from 770 workers were analysed for MERS-CoV antibodies by Enzyme-

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