Study on the susceptibility of ferret, cat, dog and other domestic animals to SARS-CoV-2
Source: Author: Date: 2020-04-09 16:49 Views: 7242
Different coronaviruses have been prevalent in mammals and poultry, but most of these coronaviruses are limited to infecting specific species of animals, and generally cannot infect humans. Similarly, several common coronaviruses in humans do not infect other animals. However, certain coronaviruses from bats, such as SARS and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) viruses, can often infect many animals and humans. SARS-CoV-2 is currently popular among a large number of people around the world, and the risk of introducing animals in close contact with humans is increasing.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to carry out close contact with humans on the susceptibility of domestic animals to SARS-CoV-2, to assess whether domestic animals are facing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 and become a potential intermediate host, to provide the prevention and control of SARS-CoV-2 Scientific basis.
In view of the current global epidemic of COVID-19, it is highly likely to evolve into a common infectious disease, and it is urgent to establish a stable and reliable animal infection model to meet the needs of vaccine and drug research and development evaluation.
Relying on the National High-level Laboratory for Animal Disease Prevention and Control (P4 Laboratory) and the State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, the team of Bu Zhigao, Harbin Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Academician Chen Hualan, and Wu Guizhen, Chinese Institute of CDC Viral Disease Prevention and Control, Researcher Tan Wenjie and others systematically studied the susceptibility of dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, ducks and other common pets, domestic animals, poultry and model experimental animals ferret to SARS-CoV-2.
Through experimental infection with SARS-CoV-2, the clinical manifestations and pathological changes of vaccinated animals and cohabiting animals were observed, and the viral load of organs and tissues, the discharge of respiratory and enteroviruses, and the positive of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 virus in animals were detected.
It was found that SARS-CoV-2 has weak replication ability in dogs, pigs, chickens and ducks, but can efficiently replicate in the upper respiratory tract of ferrets and the respiratory and digestive systems of cats.
Experimental infected cats can transmit SARS-CoV-2 through the air; some cats can cause severe morbidity or even death after infection. The incidence of young cats is obviously more serious than that of older cats. Histopathological observations confirmed that virus-infected cats can cause varying degrees of lung inflammation and intestinal mucosal damage; immunohistochemical studies have found epithelial and olfactory bulb cells of the upper respiratory tract (nasal cavity, palate, tonsils), mucosal gland epithelial cells of the trachea and bronchial mucosa , Intestinal mucosa epithelium and other parts have a large number of viral infections (Figure).
The results show that ferrets can be used as animal models for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and drug evaluation; dogs, pigs, chickens and ducks are not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, and have important guiding significance for virus host tracing; more importantly, Cats are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. The study calls for close monitoring and protection of cats in epidemic areas to avoid contact with the source of infection and prevent them from becoming possible hosts of transmission or storage.
This research was supported by the National Key R & D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology and emergency special projects 2020YFC0846500, 2018YFC1200601, 2016YFD0500301 and other projects. Related results were published online in Science on April 8, 2020.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/early/2020/04/07/science.abb7015.full.pdf
That is a bit of a bummer.