No other tissues showed gross pathology.
Microscopically, the lungs showed multifocal to coalescing,
moderate to marked acute bronchointerstitial pneumonia on 3
and 4 dpi, coupled with type II pneumocyte hyperplasia and consolidation
of pulmonary fibrin on 6 dpi indicative of a chronic
reparative stage of pneumonia. Viral antigen was exclusively associated
with regions that contained pathological changes and was
found in the lower respiratory tract, but not the upper respiratory tract. The primary cell types for MERS-CoV replication were type I
pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages (Table 2). Both surviving
animals seroconverted. As seen with the rhesus macaques, an
upregulation in genes associated with proinflammatory processes
as well as recruitment of inflammatory cells was noted