Virology: SARS virus infection of cats and ferrets

BYRON E. E. MARTINA*, BART L. HAAGMANS*, THIJS KUIKEN*, RON A. M. FOUCHIER*, GUUS F. RIMMELZWAAN*, GEERT VAN AMERONGEN*, J. S. MALIK PEIRIS†, WILINA LIM‡ & ALBERT D. M. E. OSTERHAUS*

* Institute of Virology, Erasmus Medical Centre, 3015 GE Rotterdam, The Netherlands
† Department of Microbiology and Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital, SAR Hong Kong, China
‡ Government Virus Unit, Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, SAR Hong Kong, China

e-mail: a.osterhaus@erasmusmc.nl

The reservoir of the coronavirus isolated from patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is still unknown, but is suspected to have been a wild animal species. Here we show that ferrets (Mustela furo) and domestic cats (Felis domesticus) are susceptible to infection by SARS coronavirus (SCV) and that they can efficiently transmit the virus to previously uninfected animals that are housed with them. The observation that these two distantly related carnivores can so easily be infected with the virus indicates that the reservoir for this pathogen may involve a range of animal species.