COVID-19 passed from humans to large cats at Bronx Zoo, study suggestsThe first SARS-CoV-2 infections in US animals were confirmed in large cats at the Bronx Zoo in March during the height of the local COVID-19 outbreak.
An American Society for Microbiology study today details the genomic characteristics of viruses that infected zookeepers, four tigers, and three African lions, supporting a human-to-animal transmission pathway.SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—has a suspected zoonotic origin, meaning it arose in animals.
Genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 shows a close relationship with bat coronaviruses. Natural SARS-CoV-2 infections in animals have been reported in dogs, cats, and farmed mink, and in ferrets and fruit bats in the