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Comparison of Different Methods for Respiratory Exposure to COVID-19 and Impact on Subsequent Disease and Virus Shedding in Animal Models
Katherine O'Malley, Dominique Barbeau, Emily Olsen, Mengying Xia, Jeneveve Lundy, Shamkumar Nambulli, Cynthia McMillen, Natasha Tilston-Lunel, Emily Cottle, Theron Gilliland, Anita McElroy, Amy Hartman, William Klimstra, Paul Duprex, DOUGLAS REED, University of Pittsburgh
Abstract Number: 460
Working Group: The Role of Aerosol Science in the Understanding of the Spread and Control of COVID-19 and Other Infectious Diseases
Abstract
In late 2019, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerged in Wuhan, China and has rapidly spread across the planet. In most people the virus causes a mild respiratory disease with fever and a dry cough the most commonly reported symptoms. However, fifteen percent may require hospitalization and an estimated one percent die from the disease, dubbed COVID-19. Severity fluctuates by region, patient age, and co-morbidities. Transmission appears to be by contact, droplet, and aerosol. We report here our efforts to develop animal models to support research into COVID-19. Hamsters, ferrets, and African green monkeys (AGM) were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by mucosal inoculation (intranasal, oral, and/or intratracheal inoculation) or small-particle aerosol. Clinical signs of disease (weight loss, fever, respiratory disease) in all species were mild but were typically greater after mucosal inoculation than aerosol exposure. It should be noted that doses were 100-fold higher for mucosal inoculation compared to aerosol exposures. Despite the lower doses for aerosol exposure, virus shedding was equivalent to mucosal inoculation both in terms of peak and duration of shedding by all routes examined (nasal, oral, and rectal). These results suggest that dose and upper respiratory deposition are important for disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 but surprisingly do not affect virus shedding.