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Title: | Co-circulation of two SARS-CoV-2 variant strains within imported pet hamsters in Hong Kong | Authors: | Kok, KH Wong, SC Chan, WM Wen, L Chu, AWH Ip, JD Lee, LK Wong, ITF Lo, HWH Cheng, VCC Ho, AYM Lam, BHS Tse, H Lung, D Ng, KNHL Au, AKW Siu, GKH Yuen, KY |
Issue Date: | 2022 | Source: | Emerging microbes & infections, 2022, v. 11, no. 1, p. 689-698 | Abstract: | During the investigation of a pet shop outbreak of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with probable hamster-to-human transmission, the environmental and hamster samples in epidemiologically linked pet shops were found positive for SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant AY.127 strains which are phylogenetically closely related to patients and reported European strains. This interspecies’ spill-over has triggered transmission in 58 patients epidemiologically linked to three pet shops. Incidentally, three dwarf hamsters imported from the Netherlands and centralized in a warehouse distributing animals to pet shops were positive for SARS-CoV-2 spike variant phylogenetically related to European B.1.258 strains from March 2020. This B.1.258 strain almost disappeared in July 2021. While no hamster-to-human transmission of B.1.258-like strain was found in this outbreak, molecular docking showed that its spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) has a similar binding energy to human ACE2 compared to that of Delta variant AY.127. Therefore, the potential of this B.1.258-related spike variant for interspecies jumping cannot be ignored. The co-circulation of B.1.258-related spike variants with Delta AY.127, which originated in Europe and was not previously found in Hong Kong, suggested that hamsters in our wholesale warehouse and retail pet shops more likely have acquired these viruses in the Netherlands or stopovers during delivery by aviation than locally. The risk of human-to-hamster reverse zoonosis by multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants leading to further adaptive spike mutations with subsequent transmission back to humans cannot be underestimated as an outbreak source of COVID-19. Testing imported pet animals susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 is warranted to prevent future outbreaks. | Keywords: | Animal Coronavirus Hamster Interspecies SARS-CoV-2 Transmission |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group | Journal: | Emerging microbes & infections | EISSN: | 2222-1751 | DOI: | 10.1080/22221751.2022.2040922 | Rights: | © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The following publication Kok, K. H., Wong, S. C., Chan, W. M., Wen, L., Chu, A. W. H., Ip, J. D., ... & Yuen, K. Y. (2022). Co-circulation of two SARS-CoV-2 variant strains within imported pet hamsters in Hong Kong. Emerging microbes & infections, 11(1), 689-698 is available at https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2022.2040922. |
Appears in Collections: | Journal/Magazine Article |
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