A recent report from the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health showed that animal species have a different sensitivity towards SARS-CoV2. Pigs and chickens have been shown to be less susceptible than ferrets or fruit bats.
With SARS-CoV-2, a novel zoonotic coronavirus originally believed to have
originated from bats occurred in humans in China about three months ago, subsequently leading to a pandemic. Whether SARS-CoV-2 can also infect other animal species is being investigated by various research institutes worldwide. The Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) started infection studies in pigs, chickens, fruit bats, and ferrets several weeks ago. First results show that fruit bats and ferrets are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, whereas pigs and chickens are not. The susceptibility of ferrets in particular is an important finding, as they could be used as model animals for human infection to test vaccines or drugs.
Visit the FLI website for more information