SARS-CoV-2 Aerosol and Intranasal Exposure Models in Ferrets.

ABSTRACT: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Animal models are extremely helpful for testing vaccines and therapeutics and for dissecting the viral and host factors that contribute to disease severity and transmissibility. Here, we report the assessment and comparison of intranasal and small particle (~3 µm) aerosol SARS-CoV-2 exposure in ferrets. The primary endpoints for analysis were clinical signs of disease, recovery of the virus in the upper respiratory tract, and the severity of damage within the respiratory tract. This work demonstrated that ferrets were productively infected with SARS-CoV-2 following either intranasal or small particle aerosol exposure. SARS-CoV-2 infection of ferrets resulted in an asympto

SUBMITTER: Zumbrun EE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10747480 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature