Susceptibility of SARS Coronavirus-2 infection in domestic and wild animals: a systematic review

Abstract

Animals and viruses have constantly been co-evolving under natural circumstances and pandemic like situations. They harbour harmful viruses which can spread easily. In the recent times we have seen pandemic like situations being created as a result of the spread of deadly and fatal viruses. Coronaviruses (CoVs) are one of the wellrecognized groups of viruses. There are four known genera of Coronavirus family namely, alpha (α), beta (β), gamma (γ), and delta (δ). Animals have been infected with CoVs belonging to all four genera. In the last few decades the world has witnessed an emergence of severe acute respiratory syndromes which had created a pandemic like situation such as SARS CoV, MERS-CoV. We are currently in another pandemic like situation created due to the uncontrolled spread of a similar coronavirus namely SARSCoV-2. These findings are based on a small number of animals and do not indicate whether animals can transmit disease to humans. Several mammals, including cats, dogs, bank voles, ferrets, fruit bats, hamsters, mink, pigs, rabbits, racoon dogs, and white-tailed deer, have been found to be infected naturally by the virus. Certain laboratory discoveries revealed that animals such as cats, ferrets, fruit bats, hamsters, racoon dogs, and white-tailed deer can spread the illness to other animals of the same species. This review article gives insights on the current knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 infection and development in animals on the farm and in domestic community and their impact on society.

Lack of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in British wildlife 2020–21 and first description of a stoat (Mustela erminea) Minacovirus

“…Sequences in the Tegacovirus group have also been reported from raccoon dogs [88,92], suggesting that there could be crossspecies transmission between raccoon dogs, domestic cats, dogs, pigs and people. This is of particular concern as raccoon dogs are known to be able to be infected with and transmit SARS-CoV-2 and are one of the main suspects for the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in humans [3,93,94].…”

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant (B.1.617.2) in Domestic Dogs and Zoo Tigers in England and Jersey during 2021

“…It is also noted that the regulatory requirement for reporting SARS-CoV-2 infections in animals was established in February 2021; therefore, positive cases of domestic cats and dogs that occurred before this time in GB were not required to be reported with onward supply of material to APHA for confirmatory testing, and thus not captured in this report. SARS-CoV-2 infection in dogs has been described globally with cases related to close human contact [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. A range of disease severity has been seen in dogs naturally infected with SARS-CoV-2 from subclinical [ 41 ] to mild respiratory and digestive clinical signs [ 69 ].…”

Lack of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in British wildlife 2020-21 and first description of a stoat (Mustela erminea) Minacovirus

“…Sequences in the Tegacovirus group have also been reported from raccoon dogs (Wang, Ma et al 2006, Wang, Tian et al 2022, suggesting that there could be cross-species transmission between raccoon dogs, domestic cats, dogs, pigs and people. This is of particular concern as this raccoon dogs are known to be able to be infected with and transmit SARS-CoV-2 and are one of the main suspects for the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in humans (Freuling, Breithaupt et al 2020, Crits-Christoph, Gangavarapu et al 2023, Rao, Parthasarathy et al 2023.…”