“We report pilot studies to evaluate the susceptibility of common domestic livestock (cattle, sheep, goat, alpaca, rabbit, and horse) to intranasal infection with SARS-CoV-2.”.
Highlights:
None of the infected animals shed infectious virus via nasal, oral, or faecal routes
Viral RNA was detected in several animals.
Neutralizing antibody titres were low or non-existent one month following infection.
Several individual animals (1 calf, 2 goats, and one rabbit) had RT–PCR positive nasal and/or oral swabs,
Live virus was isolated from the trachea of one calf necropsied on 3 DPI
While several animals developed low-level neutralizing antibodies within 14 days of infection, the majority were seronegative by 28 DPI
None of the animals displayed any clinical signs of disease or fever following inoculation
The lack of shedding in alpacas, which are highly susceptible to MERS-CoV, suggests camelids are unlikely to serve as a source for a recombination event between MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2
These results suggest that domestic livestock species are poorly competent hosts for SARS-CoV-2 and are unlikely to contribute to disease transmission or epidemiology
No reason to believe that newer human-adapted variants are any more likely to replicate in these poorly susceptible species
