Monday, August 22, 2022

Report: Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a Free Ranging Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) in India


 
#16,956

While incredibly well-adapted to humans, the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged from a non-human reservoir host - likely a bat - and over the past 30 months has demonstrated an ability to infect, and spread, in a number of other species.

There are genuine concerns that if SARS-CoV-2 establishes itself in a new host, it could take new, divergent evolutionary pathways - possibly even recombining with other coronaviruses (MERS-CoV, BCOV, etc.) - producing variants or a chimera that could `spill back' into humans down the road with unpredictable results.

We've already seen evidence of this occurring in mink (see Denmark Orders Culling Of All Mink Following Discovery Of Mutated Coronavirus) and in deer ( see Preprint: Evolutionary Trajectories of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta Variants in White-Tailed Deer in Pennsylvania), both of which are highly susceptible to COVID infection.

In the United States alone, the USDA has documented COVID infection in more than a dozen non-human species, including companion animals, captive animals in zoos, and wildlife.


How often SARS-CoV-2 infects animals in the wild is largely unknown, as only a few narrowly targeted surveillance programs have been attempted. But the spillover of the virus into other species is increasingly viewed as a serious threat (see WHO/FAO/OIE Joint Statement On Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 In Wildlife & Preventing Formation of Reservoirs).

While we know that captive big cats (see WCS: A Tiger at Bronx Zoo Tests Positive for COVID-19) can be severely infected, today we've a report of a free-ranging leopard - apparently suffering from COVID-induced interstitial pneumonia - that was found dead in Uttar Pradesh in northern India.

While the immediate cause of death appears to have been trauma from an attack by another carnivore - the creature was likely severely debilitated by its systemic infection - and was unable to effectively defend itself.  

The source of this animal's infection is unknown, as is the fate of the victor in this struggle. 

The full report is quite detailed (including necropsy photos), and worth reading in its entirety. 


We report an incidence of natural infection of SARS-CoV-2 in free-ranging Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca). The case was detected during routine screening. Post-mortem and laboratory examination suggested virus-induced interstitial pneumonia. Viral genome could be detected in various organs including brain, lung, spleen, and lymph nodes by real-time PCR. Whole-genome sequence analysis confirmed infection of Pango lineage B.1.617.2 of SARS-CoV-2.

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