Coronavirus – The Role of Animals in the Development of Vaccines

Posodobljeno dne 21. 10. 2020

The production of vaccines is a demanding and time-consuming process based on a variety of different studies, including the choice of the species of animal on which the vaccine will be tested. To date, researchers have tested Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) and ferrets (Mustela putorius furo). Both species of animals were found to develop clinical signs of respiratory and gastrointestinal disease with experimental SARS-CoV-2 infection when exposed to a large amount of the virus. All the infected animals recovered. Syrian hamsters also developed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 viruses following infection. The animals in both experiments eliminated the virus that infected the uninfected animals living with them. The results of these studies indicate that under experimental conditions SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted from infected to healthy Syrian hamsters and ferrets. However, this does not mean that this vrius can be transmitted from people to these two species of animals, or vice versa, or that these two species could transmit the virus and could be infected by humans. For the time being, there is no evidence of the virus being transmitted from animals to humans, and according to all known data, pets do not pose a risk to humans.