Abstract
The current COVID‐19 global pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) of probable bat origin, has highlighted the ongoing need for a One Health response to emerging zoonotic disease events. Understanding the human–animal interface and its relevance to disease transmission remains a critical control point for many emerging zoonoses. Determination of the susceptibility of various animal species to infection with SARS‐CoV‐2 and the role of animals in the epidemiology of the disease will be critical to informing appropriate human and veterinary public health responses to this pandemic. A scoping literature review was conducted to collect, evaluate and present the available research evidence regarding SARS‐CoV‐2 infections in animals. Experimental studies have successfully demonstrated SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and transmission in cats, ferrets, hamsters, bats and non‐human primates under experimental settings. Dogs appear to have limited susceptibility to SARS‐CoV‐2, while other domestic species including pigs and poultry do not appear susceptible. Naturally occurring SARS‐CoV‐2 infections in animals appear uncommon, with 14 pets, 8 captive big cats and an unreported number of farmed mink testing positive at the time of writing (early July 2020). Infections typically appear asymptomatic in dogs, while clinical signs of respiratory and/or gastrointestinal disease tend to be mild to moderate in felines, and severe to fatal in mink. Most animals are presumed to have been infected by close contact with COVID‐19 patients. In domestic settings, viral transmission is self‐limiting; however in high‐density animal environments, there can be sustained between‐animal transmission. To date, two potential cases of animal‐to‐human transmission are being investigated, on infected mink farms. Given the millions of COVID‐19 cases worldwide and ongoing potential for further zoonotic and anthroponotic viral transmission, further research and surveillance activities are needed to definitively determine the role of animals in community transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2.
Highlights
First detected in late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) has since been declared a public health emergency of international concern, approaching eleven million human infections and causing over half a million human deaths by early July 2020 (Dong et al, 2020)
Related to SARS-CoV-1, which caused the disease SARS that emerged from China in 2003, SARS-CoV-2 is believed to have emerged from a betacoronavirus circulating in rhinolophid bats (Lau et al, 2020; Zhou et al, 2020b), which made the species jump to humans, potentially by way of an intermediate animal host
This study aimed to review the current literature to identify animal species that have been conclusively shown to be permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission, and to collate the latest information regarding natural and experimental infections of the virus in animals, in order to assess the potential role of animals in community transmission of COVID-19
Summary
First detected in late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) has since been declared a public health emergency of international concern, approaching eleven million human infections and causing over half a million human deaths by early July 2020 (Dong et al, 2020). Related to SARS-CoV-1, which caused the disease SARS that emerged from China in 2003, SARS-CoV-2 is believed to have emerged from a betacoronavirus circulating in rhinolophid (horseshoe) bats (Lau et al, 2020; Zhou et al, 2020b), which made the species jump to humans, potentially by way of an intermediate animal host. From the initial zoonotic spillover event in China, the virus quickly demonstrated efficient human-to-human transmission, with virus in respiratory droplets expelled by COVID-19 patients during coughing, sneezing and talking reportedly remaining viable for multiple hours in aerosols and up to days on some surfaces (van Doremalen et al, 2020; Meselson, 2020). With billions of people around the world harbouring the virus, and the presumptive animal-origin and high recombination rates of SARS-coronaviruses (Stavrinides & Guttman, 2004), reverse spillover of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to animals (anthroponotic transmission) was surely inevitable
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