Animal models for COVID-19.
Muñoz-Fontela C., Dowling WE., Funnell SGP., Gsell P-S., Riveros-Balta AX., Albrecht RA., Andersen H., Baric RS., Carroll MW., Cavaleri M., Qin C., Crozier I., Dallmeier K., de Waal L., de Wit E., Delang L., Dohm E., Duprex WP., Falzarano D., Finch CL., Frieman MB., Graham BS., Gralinski LE., Guilfoyle K., Haagmans BL., Hamilton GA., Hartman AL., Herfst S., Kaptein SJF., Klimstra WB., Knezevic I., Krause PR., Kuhn JH., Le Grand R., Lewis MG., Liu W-C., Maisonnasse P., McElroy AK., Munster V., Oreshkova N., Rasmussen AL., Rocha-Pereira J., Rockx B., Rodríguez E., Rogers TF., Salguero FJ., Schotsaert M., Stittelaar KJ., Thibaut HJ., Tseng C-T., Vergara-Alert J., Beer M., Brasel T., Chan JFW., García-Sastre A., Neyts J., Perlman S., Reed DS., Richt JA., Roy CJ., Segalés J., Vasan SS., Henao-Restrepo AM., Barouch DH.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the aetiological agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an emerging respiratory infection caused by the introduction of a novel coronavirus into humans late in 2019 (first detected in Hubei province, China). As of 18 September 2020, SARS-CoV-2 has spread to 215 countries, has infected more than 30 million people and has caused more than 950,000 deaths. As humans do not have pre-existing immunity to SARS-CoV-2, there is an urgent need to develop therapeutic agents and vaccines to mitigate the current pandemic and to prevent the re-emergence of COVID-19. In February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) assembled an international panel to develop animal models for COVID-19 to accelerate the testing of vaccines and therapeutic agents. Here we summarize the findings to date and provides relevant information for preclinical testing of vaccine candidates and therapeutic agents for COVID-19.