Horse news, research and information

The latest research results indicate that horses and ordinary livestock are unlikely to play a role in the spread of Covid-19.

Scientists at Colorado State University reported on a pilot study to assess the susceptibility of livestock-cattle, sheep, goats, alpaca, rabbit, and a horse-to SARS-CoV-2 virus through the nose .

During the course of the study, none of the animals excreted detectable infectious virus through the nasal cavity, oral cavity, or feces, and several animals—a calf, two goats, and a rabbit—was swabbed in the nose or mouth There is evidence of viral RNA in the fetus, which suggests that these animals may be the least tolerant of infection.

One month after infection, the virus-neutralizing antibody test is low or non-existent.

The research team concluded: “These results indicate that livestock is unlikely to cause the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2.”

Three days after infection, live virus was found in the trachea of ​​a calf, but no other tissues of the animal were positive, indicating a local infection of the upper respiratory tract during the acute infection.

Angela Bosco-Lauth and her colleagues said that although several animals developed low levels of neutralizing antibodies within 14 days of infection, most of them were seronegative at 28 days.

No animal showed any clinical symptoms of disease or fever after vaccination, and no lesions consistent with SARS-CoV-2 infection were found.

The scientists said their results are consistent with other livestock studies, showing that pigs, cattle and rabbits have low levels of virus replication.

The researchers stated that the very small sample size is an obvious limitation of their study. "However, considering that other highly susceptible animals are easily infected, we believe these results provide sufficient evidence to exclude the species assessed here from the highly susceptible category."

Although all species in the study were experimentally infected with early isolates of the virus, the researchers said that they have no reason to believe that newer human adapted variants are more likely to replicate in these less susceptible species.

On the contrary, they believe that the risk of livestock participating in spillover events or reversing zoonotic diseases (humans infect animals) is low.

They said that this position is supported by the results of a study using the ACE2 protein sequence to compare host ranges, which predicts the possibility of virus binding in different species.

The authors add that the lack of reports of natural infections of any species evaluated in their study during the first 18 months of the pandemic provides credibility for this position.

"Although there is much to be understood about the role of animals (wild or domestic) in the Covid-19 pandemic, including how the emergence of new variants may affect non-human species, every new study is investigating animals as reservoirs. We It is possible to learn more about the behavior of SARS-CoV-2, and may be closer to the answer to uncover its origins."

The research team includes Angela Bosco-Rouse, Audrey Walker, Lauren Gilbert, Stephanie Potter, Ion Hartwig, Emma McVick and Richard Bowen, they are both from Colorado State University; and Helle Bielefeldt-Ohmann, University of Queensland, Australia.

Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Audrey Walker, Lauren Guilbert, Stephanie Porter, Airn Hartwig, Emma McVicker, Helle Bielefeldt-Ohmann, and Richard A. Bowen (2021) The susceptibility of livestock to SARS-CoV-2 infection, emerging microorganisms and infections , DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2021.2003724

The letter describing this research, released under a Creative Commons license, can be read here. 

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