Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Dec 21;87(1):e1-e9.
doi: 10.4102/ojvr.v87i1.1895.

Zoonotic origins and animal hosts of coronaviruses causing human disease pandemics: A review

Abdalla A Latif  1 , Samson Mukaratirwa
Affiliations
Review

Zoonotic origins and animal hosts of coronaviruses causing human disease pandemics: A review

Abdalla A Latif et al. Onderstepoort J Vet Res. .

Abstract

The first known severe disease caused by a coronavirus (CoV) in humans emerged with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China, which killed 774 people during its 2002/2003 outbreak. The Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) was the second human fatal disease, which started in 2012 in Saudi Arabia and resulted in 858 fatalities. In December 2019, a new virus, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), originating from China, began generating headlines worldwide because of the unprecedented speed of its transmission; 5.2 million people were infected and 338 480 had been reported dead from December 2019 to May 2020. These human coronaviruses are believed to have an animal origin and had reached humans through species jump. Coronaviruses are well known for their high frequency of recombination and high mutation rates, allowing them to adapt to new hosts and ecological niches. This review summarises existing information on what is currently known on the role of wild and domesticated animals and discussions on whether they are the natural reservoir/amplifiers hosts or incidental hosts of CoVs. Results of experimental infection and transmission using different wild, domesticated and pet animals are also reviewed. The need for a One Health approach in implementing measures and practices is highlighted to improve human health and reduce the emergence of pandemics from these zoonotic viruses.

Keywords: Zoonosis; animal hosts; coronaviruses; humans; one health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

References

    1. Adney D.R., Van Doremalen N., Brown V.R., Bushmaker T., Scott D., De Wit E. et al. , 2014, ‘Replication and shedding of MERS-CoV in upper respiratory tract of inoculated dromedary camels’, Emerging Infectious Diseases 20(12), 1999–2005. 10.3201/eid2012.141280 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agrawal A.S., Garron T., Tao X., Peng B., Wakamiya M., Chen T.S. et al. , 2015, ‘Generation of a transgenic mouse model of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection and disease’, Journal of Virology 89(7), 3659–3670. 10.1128/JVI.03427-14 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allocati N., Petrucci A.G., Di Giovanni P., Masulli M., Di Ilio C. & De Laurenzi V, 2016, ‘Bat–man disease transmission: Zoonotic pathogens from wildlife reservoirs to human populations’, Cell Death Discovery 2(1), 16048 10.1038/cddiscovery.2016.48 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Veterinary Medical Association , 2020, In-depth summary of reports of naturally acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections in domestic animals and farmed or captive wildlife, viewed 08 June 2020, from https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/animal-health-and-welfare/covid-19/....
    1. Annan A., Baldwin H.J., Corman V.M., Klose S.M., Owusu M., Nkrumah E.E. et al. , 2013, ‘Human betacoronavirus 2c EMC/2012-related viruses in bats, Ghana and Europe’, Emerging Infectious Diseases 19(3), 456–459. 10.3201/eid1903.121503 - DOI - PMC - PubMed