Comparison of the pathogenicity and virus shedding of SARS CoV-2 VOC 202012/01 and D614G variant in hamster model

Mohandas, Sreelekshmy; Yadav, Pragya D; Nyayanit, Dimpal; Deshpande, Gururaj; Shete-Aich, Anita; Sapkal, Gajanan; Kumar, Sanjay; Jain, Rajlaxmi; Kadam, Manoj; Kumar, Abhimanyu; Patil, Deepak Y; Sarkale, Prasad; Gawande, Pranita; Abraham, Priya

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has posed a serious challenge to public health system and vaccination programs across the globe. We have studied the pathogenicity and virus shedding pattern of the SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01 and compared with D614G variant in Syrian hamsters. VOC 202012/01 could produce disease in hamsters characterized by body weight loss and respiratory tract tropism but mild lung pathology. Further, we also documented that neutralizing antibodies developed against VOC 202012/01 could equally neutralize D614G variant. Higher load of VOC 202012/01 in the nasal wash specimens was observed during the first week of infection outcompeting the D614G variant. The findings suggest increased fitness of VOC 202012/01 to the upper respiratory tract which could lead to higher transmission. Further investigations are needed to understand the transmissibility of new variants. One-Sentence Summary SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01 infected hamsters demonstrated high viral RNA shedding through the nasal secretions and significant body weight loss with mild lung pathology compared to the D614G variant.