Cross-species transmission of coronaviruses with a focus on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in animals: a review for the veterinary practitioner

Figures & data

Table 1. Host and disease characteristics of selected coronaviruses that can infect animals that are present in New Zealand, including whether each virus has been identified in New Zealand.

Virus	Genus	Animal host	Disease characteristics	Reference^e	Present in NZ^f
Feline enteric coronavirus (FECV)^a,b	Alphacoronavirus	Cats	GI disease of varying severity	Pedersen (2014)	Yes
Feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV)^a,b	Alphacoronavirus	Cats	Fatal systemic disease	Pedersen (2014)	Yes
Ferret enteric coronavirus	Alphacoronavirus	Ferrets	GI disease of varying severity	Murray et al. (2010)	Unknown
Ferret systemic coronavirus	Alphacoronavirus	Ferrets	Severe systemic disease	Murray et al. (2010)	Unknown
Canine coronavirus (CCoV)^b	Alphacoronavirus	Dogs	GI disease of varying severity, sometimes severe pantropic disease	Decaro and Buonavoglia (2011)	Yes
Canine respiratory coronavirus (CRCoV)^c	Betacoronavirus	Dogs	Respiratory disease of varying severity	Erles and Brownlie (2008)	Yes
Alpaca respiratory coronavirus	Betacoronavirus	Alpacas	Respiratory disease	Crossley et al. (2012)	Unknown
Alpaca enteric coronavirus	Betacoronavirus	Alpacas	GI disease of varying severity	Cebra et al. (2003)	Unknown
Equine coronavirus (ECoV)^c	Betacoronavirus	Horses	Innapetence, depression, colic, ± diarrhoea	Berryhill et al. (2019)	Yes
Bovine coronavirus (BCoV)^c	Betacoronavirus	Cattle^5	Gastroenteritis or respiratory disease of varying severity	Vlasova and Saif (2021)	Yes
Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV)^b	Alphacoronavirus	Pigs	GI disease of varying severity	Thakor et al. (2022)	No
Porcine respiratory coronavirus	Alphacoronavirus	Pigs	Subclinical or mild respiratory disease	Thakor et al. (2022)	Unknown
Porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus	Alphacoronavirus	Pigs	GI disease of varying severity	Thakor et al. (2022)	No
Porcine deltacoronavirus	Deltacoronavirus	Pigs	GI disease of varying severity	Thakor et al. (2022)	Unknown
Porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (PHEV)^c	Betacoronavirus	Pigs	Wasting or encephalomyelitis	Thakor et al. (2022)	Unknown
Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus	Alphacoronavirus	Pigs	GI disease	Thakor et al. (2022)	Unknown
Murine hepatitis virus	Betacoronavirus	Mice	Enteritis, hepatitis or demyelinating encephalomyelitis	Korner et al. (2020)	Unknown
Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and other avian coronaviruses^d	Gammacoronavirus	Birds	Respiratory or GI disease of varying severity, sometimes proventriculitis or nephropathy	de Wit and Cook (2020)	Yes (IBV)
Avian deltacoronaviruses	Deltacoronavirus	Birds	Unknown	Woo et al. (2012)	Unknown

^a FECV and FIPV are two pathotypes of the same virus.

^b FECV, FIPV, CCoV and TGEV are closely related viruses that are classified within the same species Alphacoronavirus 1.

^c BCoV, ECoV, PHEV, CRCoV, human enteric coronavirus and human coronavirus-OC43 are closely related viruses that are classified within the species Betacoronavirus 1. Coronaviruses very similar to BCoV (bovine-like coronaviruses) have also been detected from a number of other ruminants including sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas and deer (Amer 2018).

^d Avian coronaviruses include infectious bronchitis virus, turkey coronavirus, goose coronavirus, pigeon coronavirus and duck coronavirus. All appear closely related based on available sequence data and classified within one species Avian coronavirus. IBV is present in New Zealand; there are no data for other avian coronaviruses.

^e Selected papers with more detailed information on pathogenesis and clinical signs caused by the viruses listed.

^f Based on published information (where available) and data available through Official New Zealand Pest Register (accessible through the Ministry of Primary Industries webpage: https://pierpestregister.mpi.govt.nz/pests-of-concern/).

GI = gastrointestinal.

Figure 1. Schematic representation of the structure of a coronavirus including details of the structure of the spike (S) protein of severe acute respiratory coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Each viral spike comprises three S proteins. A single S protein consists of two subunits (S1 and S2) which are separated by a furin cleavage site. These subunits contain different domains and play different roles during virus entry into the cell: S1 binds angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor on the host cell through its receptor binding domain (RBD), while S2 anchors the virion to the host cell and mediates membrane fusion (Jackson et al. 2022). Adapted from “An in-depth look into the structure of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein” by BioRender.com (2023). Retrieved from https://app.biorender.com/biorender-templates.

Table 2. Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibody among cats.

Source of samples	Dates of collection	Country	Direct contact with SARS-CoV-2-infected people	Proportion positive (%)	Reference
Shelters/veterinary clinics	Jan–Mar 2020	China (Wuhan)	15 from COVID-19-infected owners, rest unknown	15/102 (14.7%)	Zhang et al. (2020)
Veterinary students	March 2020	France	Confirmed COVID-19-infected or symptomatic close contacts	0/9 (0%)	Temmam et al. (2020)
Veterinary clinics	Mar–May 2020	Italy	Unknown	11/191 (5.8%)	Patterson et al. (2020)
Veterinary clinics	Apr–Sep 2020	Germany	Unknown	6/920 (0.7%)	Michelitsch et al. (2020)
Unknown	Early stages of pandemic	China (not specified)	Unknown	0/87 (0%)	Deng et al. (2020)
Veterinary clinic	Apr–Jun 2020	USA (Minnesota)	Unknown	19/239 (8%)	Dileepan et al. (2021)
Private owners	May–June 2020	France	34 from COVID-19-infected households 16 unknown	8/34 (24%) 1/16 (6%)	Fritz et al. 2021
Veterinary clinics and private owners	Feb–June 2020	Croatia (various)	Unknown	1/131 (0.8%)	Stevanovic et al. (2021)
Private owners, longitudinal study	Jun–Sep 2020	USA (Texas)	COVID-19-affected	7/16 (43.8%)	Hamer et al. (2021)
Veterinary clinics	Sep–Feb 2021	Germany	Unknown	16/1173 (1.4%)	Michelitsch et al. (2021)
Veterinary clinics	Jul–Nov 2020	Brazil (various)	Unknown	40/547 (7.3%)	de Oliveira-Filho et al. (2022)
Stray cats	Jan–Oct 2020	Spain	Unknown	4/114 (3.51%)	Villanueva-Saz et al. (2022a)
Stray cats	Oct 2020–Jan 2022	Spain	Unknown	4/254 (1%)	Villanueva-Saz et al. (2022b)
Shelters and veterinary clinics	Apr 2021–Jan 2022	Korea (various)	Unknown	18/346 (5.2%)	Bae et al. (2022)

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