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
. 2022 Sep;69(5):e3346-e3351.
doi: 10.1111/tbed.14625. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 clade B.1.2 in three snow leopards

Leyi Wang  1 , Zoltan S Gyimesi  2 , Mary Lea Killian  3 , Mia Torchetti  3 , Colleen Olmstead  1 , Richard Fredrickson  1 , Karen A Terio  4
Affiliations

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 clade B.1.2 in three snow leopards

Leyi Wang et al. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2022 Sep.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is one of seven coronaviruses known to infect humans. Different from other concerned coronavirus and influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2 has a higher basic reproduction number and thus transmits more efficiently among hosts. Testing animals for SARS-CoV-2 may help decipher virus reservoirs, transmission and pathogenesis. Here, we report the first detection of SARS-CoV-2 in three snow leopards (Panthera uncia) in a zoo in Kentucky in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Sequence analysis revealed that snow leopard SARS-CoV-2 strains were non-variant B.1.2 lineage and closely correlated with human strains. One snow leopard shed SARS-CoV-2 in faeces up to 4 weeks. Based on clinical signs and viral shedding periods and levels in the three snow leopards, animal-to-animal transmission events could not be excluded. Further testing of SARS-CoV-2 in animals is needed.

Keywords: Panthera uncia; SARS-CoV-2; detection; snow leopard; viral shedding.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Phylogenetic tree analysis of spike gene of SARS‐CoV‐2 strains of animals as well as human including two snow leopard strains KY‐20‐43641 and KY‐20‐43642 from our study marked with red colour. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Lambda variant strains were included in the analysis
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
SARS‐CoV‐2 shedding in three snow leopards S1, S2 and S3 from 10 December 2020 to 10 January 2021, as measured by N1 and N2 real‐time RT‐PCR. Ct values of samples with negative results were set to 40
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aruge, S. , Batool, H. , Khan, F. M. , Fakhar, I. A. , & Janjua, S. (2019). A pilot study‐genetic diversity and population structure of snow leopards of Gilgit‐Baltistan, Pakistan, using molecular techniques. PeerJ, 7, e7672. 10.7717/peerj.7672 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bartlett, S. L. , Diel, D. G. , Wang, L. , Zec, S. , Laverack, M. , Martins, M. , Caserta, L. C. , Killian, M. L. , Terio, K. , Olmstead, C. , Delaney, M. A. , Stokol, T. , Ivancic, M. , Jenkins‐Moore, M. , Ingerman, K. , Teegan, T. , McCann, C. , Thomas, P. , McAloose, D. , … Calle, P. P. (2021). Sars‐Cov‐2 infection and longitudinal fecal screening in Malayan Tigers (Panthera Tigris Jacksoni), Amur Tigers (Panthera Tigris Altaica), and African Lions (Panthera Leo Krugeri) at the Bronx Zoo, New York, USA. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, 51, 733–744. - PubMed
    1. Elbe, S. , & Buckland‐Merrett, G. (2017). Data, disease and diplomacy: GISAID's innovative contribution to global health. Global Challenges, 1, 33–46. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fernandez‐Bellon, H. , Rodon, J. , Fernandez‐Bastit, L. , Almagro, V. , Padilla‐Sole, P. , Lorca‐Oro, C. , Valle, R. , Roca, N. , Grazioli, S. , Trogu, T. , Bensaid, A. , Carrillo, J. , Izquierdo‐Useros, N. , Blanco, J. , Parera, M. , Noguera‐Julian, M. , Clotet, B. , Moreno, A. , Segales, J. , & Vergara‐Alert, J. (2021). Monitoring natural SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in lions (Panthera leo) at the Barcelona Zoo: Viral dynamics and host responses. Viruses, 13, 1683. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hale, V. L. , Dennis, P. M. , McBride, D. S. , Nolting, J. M. , Madden, C. , Huey, D. , Ehrlich, M. , Grieser, J. , Winston, J. , Lombardi, D. , Gibson, S. , Saif, L. , Killian, M. L. , Lantz, K. , Tell, R. , Torchetti, M. , Robbe‐Austerman, S. , Nelson, M. I. , Faith, S. A. , & Bowman, A. S. (2021). SARS‐CoV‐2 infection in free‐ranging white‐tailed deer. Nature, 602, 481–486. 10.1038/s41586-021-04353-x - DOI - PMC - PubMed