Susceptibility of ferrets, cats, dogs, and other domesticated animals to SARS–coronavirus 2

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the infectious disease COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), which was first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Despite extensive efforts to control the disease, COVID-19 has now spread to more than 100 countries and caused a global pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 is thought to have originated in bats; however, the intermediate animal sources of the virus are unknown. In this study, we investigated the susceptibility of ferrets and animals in close contact with humans to SARS-CoV-2. We found that SARS-CoV-2 replicates poorly in dogs, pigs, chickens, and ducks, but ferrets and cats are permissive to infection. Additionally, cats are susceptible to airborne transmission. Our study provides insights into the animal models for SARS-CoV-2 and animal management for COVID-19 control.

Broad Host Range of SARS-CoV-2 Predicted by Comparative and Structural Analysis of ACE2 in Vertebrates

“…It is noteworthy that camels and pigs, known for their ability to be infected by coronaviruses (35) , both score low in our analysis. These data are consistent with results (discussed above) indicating that pigs cannot be infected with SARS-CoV-2 both in vivo (47) and in vitro (50) .…”

“…Relative to other lineages analyzed, Chiroptera has a greater proportion of accelerated versus conserved residues, particularly at the S. However, kidney cell lines derived from dog showed ACE2-dependent SARS-CoV-2 S entry, suggesting that in vitro experiments may be overestimating true infectivity potential (39,50) . Pigs ( low ), ducks ( very low ) and chickens ( very low ) were similarly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and showed no susceptibility (47) , providing further support of our methodology. A recent publication reporting that SARS-CoV-2 could use pig, masked palm civet and Chinese rufous horseshoe bat ACE2 expressed in HeLa cells were inconsistent with our predictions, while data for mouse was in agreement (1) .…”

“…Data on susceptibility of wild animals to SARS-CoV-2 is still very limited. It has been reported that a captive Malayan tiger was infected by SARS-CoV-2(9) and that domestic cats, ferrets(47) , rhesus macaques(48) and Syrian golden hamsters(49) are susceptible to experimental infection by SARS-CoV-2. These results agree with our predictions of ACE2 binding ability to SARS-CoV-2 S(Fig.…”

“…As detailed above, further in vitro and in vivo infectivity studies are required to fully understand the mode of transmission of susceptibility of bats to SARS-CoV-2.Carnivores . Recent reports of a Malayan tiger and a domestic cat infected by SARS-CoV-2 suggest that the virus can be transmitted to other felids(9,47) . Our results are consistent with these studies; 9/9 felids we analyzed scored medium for ACE2 binding of SARS-CoV-2 S. However, the masked palm civet ( Paguma larvata ), a member of the Viverridae family that is related to but distinct from Felidae, scored as very low .…”

“…These results are inconsistent with transfection studies using civet ACE2 receptors expressed in HeLa cells (1) , although these experiments have limitations as discussed above. While carnivores closely related to dogs (dingos, wolves and foxes) all scored low , experimental data supporting infection in dogs were inconsistent(47,50,59) so no conclusions can be drawn. Pangolins .…”