Background CoronaVac, an inactivated whole-virion SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, has been shown to be well tolerated with a good safety profile in individuals aged 18 years and older in phase 1/2 trials, and provided a good humoral response against SARS-CoV-2. We present the interim efficacy and safety results of a phase 3 clinical trial of CoronaVac in Turkey.Methods This was a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Volunteers aged 18-59 years with no history of COVID-19 and with negative PCR and antibody test results for SARS-CoV-2 were enrolled at 24 centres in Turkey. Exclusion criteria included (but were not limited to) immunosuppressive therapy (including steroids) within the past 6 months, bleeding disorders, asplenia, and receipt of any blood products or immunoglobulins within the past 3 months. The K1 cohort consisted of health-care workers (randomised in a 1:1 ratio), and individuals other than health-care workers were also recruited into the K2 cohort (randomised in a 2:1 ratio) using an interactive web response system. The study vaccine was 3 μg inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virion adsorbed to aluminium hydroxide in a 0•5 mL aqueous suspension. Participants received either vaccine or placebo (consisting of all vaccine components except inactivated virus) intramuscularly on days 0 and 14. The primary efficacy outcome was the prevention of PCR-confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 at least 14 days after the second dose in the per protocol population. Safety analyses were done in the intention-to-treat population. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04582344) and is active but no longer recruiting.

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV, genus Morbillivirus), which causes a severe disease in sheep and goats, has only recently been officially declared to be present in Turkey. We carried out a study to determine the prevalence, distribution, and host range of PPRV in Turkey. A total of 1,607 animals, reared in 18 different locations, were monitored for the presence of antibodies to PPRV and the related virus of large ruminants, Rinderpest virus (RPV). Only two farms had animals that were free of antibody responses to either disease. Prevalence for PPRV infection varied (range 0.87%–82.6%) and was higher in sheep (29.2%) than in goats (20%). The overall antibody responses to PPRV and RPV were 22.4% and 6.28%, respectively. Two PPRVs of lineage 4, which comprises many other PPRVs whose origins are in the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and southern Asia, were isolated from Turkish sheep.

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Abstract. The present study describes pathologic and virologic findings in 15 sheep and 6 goats that died of natural peste des petits ruminants virus infection in Turkey. Pathologic findings included erosiveulcerative stomatitis, fibrino-necrotic tracheitis, bronchointerstitial pneumonia, multifocal coagulation necroses in the liver, and severe lymphocytolysis in lymphoid tissues. Syncytial cells were conspicuous, especially in the oral mucosa, pulmonary alveoli, liver, and lymphoid tissues. In addition to the typical tissue distribution, eosinophilic intracytoplasmic and/or intranuclear inclusions were observed in epithelial cells lining the renal pelvis and abomasal mucosa. Immunolabeling of the viral antigen was observed in the kidney, brain, rumen, abomasum, heart, and myocytes of the tongue besides its more typical locations. In this study, we report and describe in detail the first peste des petits ruminants endemic in Kirikkale Province, Central Anatolia of Turkey. In conclusion, these previously unreported pathologic findings in natural peste des petits ruminants virus infection establish a basis for resemblance to other morbillivirus infections, such as canine distemper and distemper of sea mammals. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analyses indicated that the 448-bp genome fragment was amplified in 18 cases (18/21, 85.7 %). Phylogenetic analysis showed that viruses belong to lineage 4 in the peste des petits ruminants virus common phylogenetic tree.