@article{94cc9038ed874c00ba972ba6920224fb,
title = "From people to Panthera: Natural SARS-CoV-2 infection in tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo",
abstract = "Despite numerous barriers to transmission, zoonoses are the major cause of emerging infectious diseases in humans. Among these, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and ebolaviruses have killed thousands; the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has killed millions. Zoonoses and human-to-animal cross-species transmission are driven by human actions and have important management, conservation, and public health implications. The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which presumably originated from an animal reservoir, has killed more than half a million people around the world and cases continue to rise. In March 2020, New York City was a global epicenter for SARS-CoV-2 infections. During this time, four tigers and three lions at the Bronx Zoo, NY, developed mild, abnormal respiratory signs. We detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA in respiratory secretions and/or feces from all seven animals, live virus in three, and colocalized viral RNA with cellular damage in one. We produced nine whole SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the animals and keepers and identified different SARS-CoV-2 genotypes in the tigers and lions. Epidemiologic and genomic data indicated human-to-tiger transmission. These were the first confirmed cases of natural SARS-CoV-2 animal infections in the United States and the first in nondomestic species in the world. We highlight disease transmission at a nontraditional interface and provide information that con-tributes to understanding SARS-CoV-2 transmission across species. IMPORTANCE The human-animal-environment interface of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an important aspect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that requires robust One Health-based investigations. Despite this, few reports describe natural infections in animals or directly link them to human infections using genomic data. In the present study, we describe the first cases of natural SARS-CoV-2 infection in tigers and lions in the United States and provide epidemiological and genetic evidence for human-to-animal transmission of the virus. Our data show that tigers and lions were infected with different geno-types of SARS-CoV-2, indicating two independent transmission events to the animals. Importantly, infected animals shed infectious virus in respiratory secretions and feces. A better understanding of the susceptibility of animal species to SARS-CoV-2 may help to elucidate transmission mechanisms and identify potential reservoirs and sources of infection that are important in both animal and human health.",
keywords = "Coronavirus, COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, Pandemic, One Health, zoonotic infection, zoo, whole-genome sequencing, virus isolation, tiger, rRT-PCR, lion, in situ hybridization, Panthera tigris, Panthera leo, Virus isolation, Tiger, SARS-CoV-2, Lion, RRT-PCR, Zoonotic infection, Whole-genome sequencing, Zoo, In situ hybridization",
author = "Denise McAloose and Melissa Laverack and Leyi Wang and Killian, {Mary Lea} and Caserta, {Leonardo C} and Mitchell, {Patrick K} and Krista Queen and Mauldin, {Matthew R} and Cronk, {Brittany D} and Bartlett, {Susan L} and Sykes, {John M} and Stephanie Zec and Karen Ingerman and Tracy Stokol and Richard Frederikson and Delaney, {Martha A} and Marina Ivancic and Melinda Jenkins-Moore and Katie Mozingo and Kerrie Franzen and {Hines Bergeson}, Nichole and Laura Goodman and Haibin Wang and Suxiang Wang and Fangfeng Yuan and Ying Fang and Colleen Olmstead and Colleen McCann and Patrick Thomas and Erin Goodrich and Francois Elvinger and Sally Slavinski and Smith, {David C} and Calle, {Paul P} and Karen Terio and Torchetti, {Mia Kim} and Diel, {Diego G}",
note = "Funding Information: Diagnostic testing at the University of Illinois and Cornell University was supported in part by USDA:NAHLN infrastructure APHIS award AP19 VS NVSL00C020, USDA: NAHLN award AP20 VS DB000C020, and NIFA award 2018-37620-28832. Sequencing capacity at the University of Illinois and Cornell University was funded in part by the Food and Drug Administration Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (FOA PAR-18-604) under grants 1U18FD006673-01, 1U18FD006866-01, 1U18FD006714-01, and 1U18FD006716-01. The study was also made possible in part through the kind support of the rapid response funds of the Cornell Feline Health Center to D. G. Diel. Funding Information: We thank staff in the Bronx Zoo?s Clinical, Pathology, and Mammalogy Departments for animal management and sample collection and processing; Christian Walzer for manuscript review; Kaitlin Duignan for her assistance with the human epidemiological investigation; and (from Cornell AHDC) Christopher Shiprack, Roopa Venugopalan, and Renee Anderson for their help with sample collection and processing. We also thank Eric Nelson at South Dakota State University and Beth Plocharczyk at Cayuga Medical Center for providing reagents used in the study. Lastly, we thank partners at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for their assistance with this investigation. The following reagent was deposited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and obtained through BEI Resources, NIAID, NIH: genomic RNA from SARS-related coronavirus 2, isolate USA-WA1/2020, NR-52285. Diagnostic testing at the University of Illinois and Cornell University was supported in part by USDA:NAHLN infrastructure APHIS award AP19 VS NVSL00C020, USDA: NAHLN award AP20 VS DB000C020, and NIFA award 2018-37620-28832. Sequencing capacity at the University of Illinois and Cornell University was funded in part by the Food and Drug Administration Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (FOA PAR-18-604) under grants 1U18FD006673-01, 1U18FD006866-01, 1U18FD006714-01, and 1U18FD006716-01.",
year = "2020",
month = oct,
day = "13",
doi = "10.1101/2020.07.22.213959",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "11",
pages = "1--13",
journal = "mBio",
issn = "2161-2129",
publisher = "American Society for Microbiology",
number = "5",
}