Development of a Hamster Natural Transmission Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
The global pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to an international thrust to study pathogenesis and evaluate interventions. Experimental infection of hamsters and the resulting respiratory disease is...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Viruses |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/11/2251 |
| _version_ | 1797508209127194624 |
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| author | Stuart Dowall Francisco J. Salguero Nathan Wiblin Susan Fotheringham Graham Hatch Simon Parks Kathryn Gowan Debbie Harris Oliver Carnell Rachel Fell Robert Watson Victoria Graham Karen Gooch Yper Hall Simon Mizen Roger Hewson |
| author_facet | Stuart Dowall Francisco J. Salguero Nathan Wiblin Susan Fotheringham Graham Hatch Simon Parks Kathryn Gowan Debbie Harris Oliver Carnell Rachel Fell Robert Watson Victoria Graham Karen Gooch Yper Hall Simon Mizen Roger Hewson |
| author_sort | Stuart Dowall |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The global pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to an international thrust to study pathogenesis and evaluate interventions. Experimental infection of hamsters and the resulting respiratory disease is one of the preferred animal models since clinical signs of disease and virus shedding are similar to more severe cases of human COVID-19. The main route of challenge has been direct inoculation of the virus via the intranasal route. To resemble the natural infection, we designed a bespoke natural transmission cage system to assess whether recipient animals housed in physically separate adjacent cages could become infected from a challenged donor animal in a central cage, with equal airflow across the two side cages. To optimise viral shedding in the donor animals, a low and moderate challenge dose were compared after direct intranasal challenge, but similar viral shedding responses were observed and no discernible difference in kinetics. The results from our natural transmission set-up demonstrate that most recipient hamsters are infected within the system developed, with variation in the kinetics and levels of disease between individual animals. Common clinical outputs used for the assessment in directly-challenged hamsters, such as weight loss, are less obvious in hamsters who become infected from naturally acquiring the infection. The results demonstrate the utility of a natural transmission model for further work on assessing the differences between virus strains and evaluating interventions using a challenge system which more closely resembles human infection. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:59:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6ac8b37c5b36426ca3532cd28a1b92d8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4915 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:59:10Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Viruses |
| spelling | doaj.art-6ac8b37c5b36426ca3532cd28a1b92d82023-11-23T01:57:34ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152021-11-011311225110.3390/v13112251Development of a Hamster Natural Transmission Model of SARS-CoV-2 InfectionStuart Dowall0Francisco J. Salguero1Nathan Wiblin2Susan Fotheringham3Graham Hatch4Simon Parks5Kathryn Gowan6Debbie Harris7Oliver Carnell8Rachel Fell9Robert Watson10Victoria Graham11Karen Gooch12Yper Hall13Simon Mizen14Roger Hewson15United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKTecniplast UK Ltd., BCM Box 3058, London WC1N 3XX, UKUnited Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UKThe global pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to an international thrust to study pathogenesis and evaluate interventions. Experimental infection of hamsters and the resulting respiratory disease is one of the preferred animal models since clinical signs of disease and virus shedding are similar to more severe cases of human COVID-19. The main route of challenge has been direct inoculation of the virus via the intranasal route. To resemble the natural infection, we designed a bespoke natural transmission cage system to assess whether recipient animals housed in physically separate adjacent cages could become infected from a challenged donor animal in a central cage, with equal airflow across the two side cages. To optimise viral shedding in the donor animals, a low and moderate challenge dose were compared after direct intranasal challenge, but similar viral shedding responses were observed and no discernible difference in kinetics. The results from our natural transmission set-up demonstrate that most recipient hamsters are infected within the system developed, with variation in the kinetics and levels of disease between individual animals. Common clinical outputs used for the assessment in directly-challenged hamsters, such as weight loss, are less obvious in hamsters who become infected from naturally acquiring the infection. The results demonstrate the utility of a natural transmission model for further work on assessing the differences between virus strains and evaluating interventions using a challenge system which more closely resembles human infection.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/11/2251COVID-19transmissionanimals |
| spellingShingle | Stuart Dowall Francisco J. Salguero Nathan Wiblin Susan Fotheringham Graham Hatch Simon Parks Kathryn Gowan Debbie Harris Oliver Carnell Rachel Fell Robert Watson Victoria Graham Karen Gooch Yper Hall Simon Mizen Roger Hewson Development of a Hamster Natural Transmission Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Viruses COVID-19 transmission animals |
| title | Development of a Hamster Natural Transmission Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection |
| title_full | Development of a Hamster Natural Transmission Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection |
| title_fullStr | Development of a Hamster Natural Transmission Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection |
| title_full_unstemmed | Development of a Hamster Natural Transmission Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection |
| title_short | Development of a Hamster Natural Transmission Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection |
| title_sort | development of a hamster natural transmission model of sars cov 2 infection |
| topic | COVID-19 transmission animals |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/11/2251 |
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