Ocular conjunctival inoculation of SARS-CoV-2 can cause mild COVID-19 in rhesus macaques.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32879306.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-18149-6 and PMC identifier 7467924.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is highly transmitted through the respiratory route, but potential extra-respiratory routes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission remain uncertain. Here we inoculated five rhesus macaques with 1 × 10<sup>6</sup> TCID<sub>50</sub> of SARS-CoV-2 conjunctivally (CJ), intratracheally (IT), and intragastrically (IG). Nasal and throat swabs collected from CJ and IT had detectable viral RNA at 1-7 days post-inoculation (dpi). Viral RNA was detected in anal swabs from only the IT group at 1-7 dpi. Viral RNA was undetectable in tested swabs and tissues after intragastric inoculation. The CJ infected animal had a higher viral load in the nasolacrimal system than the IT infected animal but also showed mild interstitial pneumonia, suggesting distinct virus distributions. This study shows that infection via the conjunctival route is possible in non-human primates; further studies are necessary to compare the relative risk and pathogenesis of infection through these different routes in more detail.
Medical subject headings
- Betacoronavirus
- Conjunctiva
- Coronavirus Infections
- Disease Models, Animal
- Pneumonia, Viral