Chemotherapy . Animal Hosts and Experimental Models of SARS-CoV-2 Infection

[tetano]

Chemotherapy


. 2021 Mar 26;1-9.
doi: 10.1159/000515341. Online ahead of print.
Animal Hosts and Experimental Models of SARS-CoV-2 Infection


Cristina Parolin ¹ , Sara Virtuoso ² , Marta Giovanetti ³ , Silvia Angeletti ⁴ , Massimo Ciccozzi ⁵ , Alessandra Borsetti ²



Affiliations

• PMID: 33774628
• DOI: 10.1159/000515341

Abstract

Viruses arise through cross-species transmission and can cause potentially fatal diseases in humans. This is the case of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which recently appeared in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread worldwide, causing the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and posing a global health emergency. Sequence analysis and epidemiological investigations suggest that the most likely original source of SARS-CoV-2 is a spillover from an animal reservoir, probably bats, that infected humans either directly or through intermediate animal hosts. The role of animals as reservoirs and natural hosts in SARS-CoV-2 has to be explored, and animal models for COVID-19 are needed as well to be evaluated for countermeasures against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Experimental cells, tissues, and animal models that are currently being used and developed in COVID-19 research will be presented.

Keywords: Animal hosts; Animal models; Cell models; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.