Thread by @DrEricDing

⚠️NO FERRETS: New study finds that ferrets are highly susceptible to #SARSCoV2 infection and effectively transmit by direct or indirect contact, furthering human #infection and transmission. #COVID19 So avoid ferrets. Got it folks? cell.com/pb-assets/jour…

2) Ferrets similar to humans for #COVID19? Authors state the following: “Following the fortuitous discovery of the natural susceptibility of ferrets to human influenza viruses, ferret models were found to highly reproduce the human disease manifestation of...”

3) ...”several respiratory viruses including respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenzaviruses, and SARS-CoV-1. In addition to the presence of respective viral receptors, anatomic proportions of the ferret upper and lower respiratory tracts, density of submucosal...” #Covid19

4) “glands in the bronchial wall and the number of generations of terminal bronchioles all reproduce the condition in the human respiratory tract. This further supports the significance of ferrets as animal model for human
respiratory viral infection.” #COVID19

5) “We demonstrated that infected ferrets showed high virus titers in upper respiratory tracts & consequently transmitted to naïve ferrets by direct contact at high efficiency, suggesting #SARSCoV2 ferret model recapitulates aspects of human infection and transmission” #COVID19

6) BOTTOMLINE: Ferret infection model of #SARSCoV2 very similar to human models. Ferret #COVID19 could be good analogy for human infection. So again, be careful of ferrets and this coronavirus just to be safe.