Serological survey of SARS‐CoV‐2 for experimental, domestic, companion and wild animals excludes intermediate hosts of 35 different species of animals

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2, previously was named as COVID-2019 by the WHO, is now pandemic which has been reported 5,077 human death of 136,895 confirmed cases in 123 countries (updated on 14 March 2020 from WHO official website). The viruses have been successfully isolated, but the pathogenesis mechanisms and effective vaccines are undergoing extensively study. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to Betacoronavirus genera in the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae of family Coronaviridae, in which SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV are also in this group. The natural host of highly pathogenic SARS and MERS coronaviruses was confirmed as bats, and bats are also thought to be the natural hosts for SARS-CoV-2 based upon genomic sequence analysis (Wang, Horby, Hayden, & Gao, 2020). Coronaviruses needed intermediate hosts before being able to infect humans. Masked palm civets and dromedary camels were confirmed as intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV (Guarner, 2020), but the intermediate hosts remain unknown for SARS-CoV-2 (Ward, Li, & Tian, 2020). In order to find the intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2, a commercial double-antigen sandwich ELISA, which could be applied for different species of animals, was used to detect SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in different species of animals. Before applied to clinical serum samples, the sensitivity and specificity of kit were initially confirmed using SARS-CoV-2-positive and SARS-CoV-2-negative sera from experimental animals including rabbit, mouse, pig and ferret. SARS-CoV-2-negative sera from other species of experimental animals were also used which included chicken, duck, rat, guinea pig, beagle dog and rhesus monkey. After that, the kit was used to detect SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in domestic livestock (pig, cow, sheep, horse), poultry (chicken, duck, goose), experimental animals (mice, rat, guinea pig, rabbit and monkey), companion animal (dog and cat) and wild animals (camel, fox, mink, alpaca, ferret, bamboo rat, peacock, eagle, tiger rhinoceros, pangolin, leopard cat, jackal,

Integrate Structural Analysis, Isoform Diversity, and Interferon-Inductive Propensity of ACE2 to Refine SARS-CoV2 Susceptibility Prediction in Vertebrates

“…This concern involves two aspects: (1) screening to identify the animal species that serve as a virus reservoir originally passing SARS-CoV2 to humans; and (2) the existing risk of infected people passing the virus to animals, particularly domestic species, thus potentially amplifying the zoonotic cycle to worsen SARS-CoV2 evolution and prevalence [16,17]. By diagnosis of animals in close contact with COVID-19 patients or screening of animal samples in some COVID-19 epidemic zones, studies detected that domestic cats and dogs could be virally or serologically positive for SARS-CoV2 [18][19][20][21][22][23][24], as was a reported infection in a zoo tiger [25]. Using controlled experimental infection of human SARS-CoV2 isolates, several studies demonstrated that ferrets, hamsters, domestic cats and some non-human primate species are susceptible to human SARS-CoV2 strains [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

“…By diagnosis of animals in close contact with COVID-19 patients or screening of animal samples in some COVID-19 epidemic zones, studies detected that domestic cats and dogs could be virally or serologically positive for SARS-CoV2 [18][19][20][21][22][23][24], as was a reported infection in a zoo tiger [25]. Using controlled experimental infection of human SARS-CoV2 isolates, several studies demonstrated that ferrets, hamsters, domestic cats and some non-human primate species are susceptible to human SARS-CoV2 strains [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Obviously, it is impractical to test SARS-CoV2 susceptibility experimentally in all animal species.…”

“…Therefore, to determine the cell tropism and animal susceptibility to SARS-CoV2, the cross-species ACE2 genetic and especially epigenetic diversity in regulation of ACE2 expression and functionality should be evaluated [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. In this study, through integration of structural analysis and key immunogenetic factors that show species-dependent differences, we critically refine the SARS-CoV2 susceptibility prediction to fit recent experimental validation [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Along with showing a broad susceptibility potential across mammalian species based on structural analysis [26][27][28], our results further reveal that domestic animals including dogs, pigs, cattle and goats may evolve previously unexamined immunogenetic diversity to restrict SARS-CoV2 infections.…”

A comparative study of isothermal nucleic acid amplification methods for SARS-CoV-2 detection at point-of-care

“…Virological diagnosis directly detects the viral nucleic acids via isothermal nucleic acid amplification tests (iNAATs) [9][10][11][12] and CRISPR Cas12 based method [13]. Serological tests detect the rising titers of antibody between acute and convalescent stages of infection or detect IgM in primary infection [14][15][16][17]. However, serological diagnosis usually shows lower sensitivity especially in the early stage of infection [18].…”

Pathogenesis, transmission and response to re-exposure of SARS-CoV-2 in domestic cats

“…In following weeks, other reports of domestic pets becoming infected following 48 exposure to humans were documented, including another dog in Hong Kong and a cat with 49 clinical disease in Belgium (Chini 2020). Serologic studies so far have failed to identify domestic 50 dogs and cats as a primary source of human infection (Deng et al 2020). Importantly, a survey of 51 veterinary students with confirmed COVID infection was unable to identify antibodies in their…”