COVID-19—Zoonosis or Emerging Infectious Disease?

Haider, Najmul; Rothman-Ostrow, Peregrine; Osman, Abdinasir Yusuf; Arruda, Liã Bárbara; Macfarlane-Berry, Laura; Elton, Linzy; Thomason, Margaret J.; Yeboah-Manu, Dorothy; Ansumana, Rashid; Kapata, Nathan; Mboera, Leonard; Rushton, Jonathan; McHugh, Timothy D.; Heymann, David L.; Zumla, Alimuddin; Kock, Richard A.

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.596944

COVID-19—Zoonosis or Emerging Infectious Disease?

Haider, Najmul; Rothman-Ostrow, Peregrine; Osman, Abdinasir Yusuf; Arruda, Liã Bárbara; Macfarlane-Berry, Laura; Elton, Linzy; Thomason, Margaret J.; Yeboah-Manu, Dorothy; Ansumana, Rashid; Kapata, Nathan; Mboera, Leonard; Rushton, Jonathan; McHugh, Timothy D.; Heymann, David L.; Zumla, Alimuddin; Kock, Richard A.

Authors

Najmul Haider

Peregrine Rothman-Ostrow

Abdinasir Yusuf Osman

Liã Bárbara Arruda

Laura Macfarlane-Berry

Linzy Elton

Margaret J. Thomason

Dorothy Yeboah-Manu

Rashid Ansumana

Nathan Kapata

Leonard Mboera

Jonathan Rushton

Timothy D. McHugh

David L. Heymann

Alimuddin Zumla

Richard A. Kock

Contributors

Najmul Haider
Researcher

Abstract

The World Health Organization defines a zoonosis as any infection naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans. The pandemic of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been classified as a zoonotic disease, however, no animal reservoir has yet been found, so this classification is premature. We propose that COVID-19 should instead be classified an “emerging infectious disease (EID) of probable animal origin.” To explore if COVID-19 infection fits our proposed re-categorization vs. the contemporary definitions of zoonoses, we reviewed current evidence of infection origin and transmission routes of SARS-CoV-2 virus and described this in the context of known zoonoses, EIDs and “spill-over” events. Although the initial one hundred COVID-19 patients were presumably exposed to the virus at a seafood Market in China, and despite the fact that 33 of 585 swab samples collected from surfaces and cages in the market tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, no virus was isolated directly from animals and no animal reservoir was detected. Elsewhere, SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in animals including domesticated cats, dogs, and ferrets, as well as captive-managed mink, lions, tigers, deer, and mice confirming zooanthroponosis. Other than circumstantial evidence of zoonotic cases in mink farms in the Netherlands, no cases of natural transmission from wild or domesticated animals have been confirmed. More than 40 million human COVID-19 infections reported appear to be exclusively through human-human transmission. SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 do not meet the WHO definition of zoonoses. We suggest SARS-CoV-2 should be re-classified as an EID of probable animal origin.

Citation

Haider, N., Rothman-Ostrow, P., Osman, A. Y., Arruda, L. B., Macfarlane-Berry, L., Elton, L., …Kock, R. A. (in press). COVID-19—Zoonosis or Emerging Infectious Disease?. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.596944

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 20, 2020
Online Publication Date	Nov 26, 2020
Deposit Date	Nov 27, 2020
Publicly Available Date	Dec 4, 2020
Journal	Frontiers in Public Health
Publisher	Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	8
DOI	https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.596944
Keywords	COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, zoonoses, emerging infectious disease (EID), spillover
Public URL	https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/output/1441248