Sneezing hamsters may have started a COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong. Do you know what other animals could transmit the virus to humans?
While we are all keeping social distancing and wearing masks to avoid catching the SARS-CoV-2 virus from other people, some animals have recently been confirmed to be able to infect you with the dreaded virus.
In a recent study, researchers from the University of Hong Kong found that hamsters can become infected with the COVID-19 virus and can transmit it to humans.
The study found that eight out of 16 hamsters from a pet shop and seven out of 12 hamsters found in a warehouse tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Further genetic analyses showed that the viral strains carried by these animals were highly similar to those found in human cases. Their analyses strongly suggested that at least two separate hamster-to-human transmission events occurred, one of which led to a household outbreak.
Hamsters are the second animal confirmed to be capable of infecting people with the SARS-CoV-2 virus – the other animal is the mink.
Back in 2020, a study showed that some small outbreaks of COVID-19 in Denmark and the Netherlands could be traced to farmed mink, which prompted the Danish government to cull some 17 million animals.
Hamsters and minks, then what?
The COVID-19 virus is thought to have originated in horseshoe bats, followed by an intermediate host, before it made the jump into humans. Now that hamsters and minks have been shown to be able to transmit the SARS-CoV-2 virus to humans, a lot of people wonder what other animals should be on the red list.
So far, we know of a few other animals that can also contract the COVID-19 virus, including cats, ferrets, hamsters, non-human primates, minks, tree shrews, raccoon dogs, fruit bats, and rabbit, as described in this recent report.
In theory, once the SARS-CoV-2 virus enters a new animal host, it can evolve, and potentially turn into a more virulent or infectious strain that can affect humans. But, more research is needed to assess the risk animals pose for new COVID-19 outbreaks.