Susceptibility of ferrets, cats, dogs, and different domestic animals to SARS-coronavirus-2

Hualan Chen

To further investigate whether SARS-CoV-2 replicates in the lungs of ferrets, we intratracheally . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license author/funder. It is made available under a The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.30.015347 doi: bioRxiv preprint inoculated eight ferrets with 10 5 pfu of CTan-H, and euthanized two animals each on days 2, 4, 8, and 14 p.i. to look for viral RNA in the tissues and organs. Viral RNA was only detected in the nasal turbinate and soft palate of one of the two ferrets that were euthanized on days 2 and 4 p.i.; in the soft palate of one ferret and in the nasal turbinate, soft palate, tonsil, and trachea of the other ferret that were euthanized on day 8 p.i.; and was not detected in either of the two ferrets that were euthanized on day 14 p.i. (fig. S4 ). These results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 can replicate in the upper respiratory tract of ferrets for up to eight days, without causing severe disease or death.