SARS-CoV-2 jumping the species barrier: Zoonotic lessons from SARS, MERS and recent advances to combat this pandemic virus

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - Coronavirus-2) of the family Coronaviridae , appeared in China in December 2019. This disease was declared as posing Public Health International Emergency by World Health Organization on January 30, 2020, attained the status of a very high-risk category on February 29, and now having a pandemic status (March 11). COVID-19 has presently spread to more than 215 countries/territories while killing nearly 0.75 million humans out of cumulative confirmed infected asymptomatic or symptomatic cases accounting to almost 20.5 million as of August 12, 2020, within a short period of just a few months. Researchers worldwide are pacing with high efforts to counter the spread of this virus and to design effective vaccines and therapeutics/drugs. Few of the studies have shown the potential of the animal-human interface and zoonotic links in the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Exploring the possible zoonosis and revealing the factors responsible for its initial transmission from animals to humans will pave ways to design and implement effective preventive and control strategies to counter the COVID-19. The present review presents a comprehensive overview of COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2, with emphasis on the role of animals and their jumping the cross-species barriers, experiences learned from SARS- and MERS-CoVs, zoonotic links, and spillover events, transmission to humans and rapid spread, and highlights the new advances in diagnosis, vaccine and therapies, preventive and control measures, one health concept along with recent research developments to counter this pandemic disease.

An Overview of SARS-CoV-2 and Animal Infection

“…The spread of the emerging SARS-CoV-2 can be controlled through rapid laboratory diagnosis, proper isolation, quarantine measures, developing effective vaccines and therapeutics (18,109,113,114). In addition to surveillance of susceptible animals in close contact to humans, zoo animals, and wildlife animal species to highlight their role as an intermediate host or virus carrier (33,61,113,115). It is crucial to establish an international cooperation sharing pathogen sequence libraries and updated databases to facilitate efforts in disease diagnosis and vaccine development (107).…”

“…Such strategies will help to prevent and mitigate outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 in these animals and the potential of spillback to humans (23). On the other hand, it is recommended to apply public health and biosecurity measures for workers in the field of meat and poultry processing for their protection, enhancement of food safety, and preservation of processing facilities during the pandemic (33,116).…”

“…Moreover, several animal species have been reported to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection either naturally (cats, dogs, minks, lions, tigers) or after experimental infection (mice, cats, ferrets, hamsters, primates, treeshrew) (13,(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32). Also, the high mutation rates of RNA viruses help them to adapt to a wide range of hosts (33). Therefore, it is essential to identify the potential virus reservoir and the possibility of infection for other animal species.…”

Paired SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Mutations Observed During Ongoing SARS-CoV-2 Viral Transfer from Humans to Minks and Back to Humans

“…Gene sequence evidence of SARS-CoV-2 zoonotic transfer as a mechanism capable of increasing mutations needs to be vigilantly followed over the coming months and years. There are multiple species that can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 to assist in this mutation potential (Dhama et al, 2020). A number of species known to be infected by this virus have not been sequenced to the same extent as minks in the current outbreak.…”

Economic and Social Impacts of COVID-19 on Animal Welfare and Dairy Husbandry in Central Punjab, Pakistan

“…This pandemic continued to spread relentlessly (3). COVID-19 was declared as a Public Health International Emergency by the World Health Organization on January 30, 2020 (4). The number of confirmed coronavirus cases was around 27 million cases and confirmed deaths around 0.9 million globally (as of September 7, 2020) (5).…”