Animal models for COVID-19.
César Muñoz-FontelaWilliam E DowlingSimon G P FunnellPierre-S GsellA Ximena Riveros-BaltaRandy A AlbrechtHanne A ElyardRalph S BaricMiles W CarrollMarco CavaleriChuan QinIan CrozierKai DallmeierLeon de WaalEmmie de WitLeen DelangErik DohmW Paul DuprexDarryl FalzaranoCourtney L FinchMatthew B FriemannBarney S GrahamLisa E GralinskiKate GuilfoyleBart L HaagmansGeraldine A HamiltonAmy L HartmanSander HerfstSuzanne J F KapteinWilliam B KlimstraIvana KnezevicPhilip R KrauseJ Thomas BeattyRoger Le GrandMark G LewisWen-Chun LiuPauline MaisonnasseAnita K McElroyVincent J MunsterNadia OreshkovaAngela L RasmussenJoana Rocha-PereiraBarry RockxEstefanía RodríguezThomas F RogersFrancisco J SalgueroMichael SchotsaertKoert J StittelaarHendrik-Jan ThibautChien-Te TsengJúlia Vergara-AlertMartin BeerTrevor BraselJasper F W ChanAdolfo García-SastreJohan NeytsStanley PerlmanDouglas S ReedJuergen A RichtChad J RoyJoaquim SegalésSeshadri S VasanAna María Henao-RestrepoDan H BarouchPublished in: Nature (2020)
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.