Skip to main content

BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical Microbiology
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1505720
This article is part of the Research Topic Recent Advancements in the Research Models of Infectious Diseases View all articles

Prolonged fecal shedding of replication-competent virus, lasting immune activation, and intestinal inflammation in a rhesus macaque after experimental SARS-CoV-2 infection

Provisionally accepted
Kinga P Böszörményi Kinga P Böszörményi 1Marieke A Stammes Marieke A Stammes 1Fagrouch Zahra Fagrouch Zahra 1Fidel Acar Fidel Acar 1Henk Niphuis Henk Niphuis 1Gwendoline Kiemenyi Kayere Gwendoline Kiemenyi Kayere 1Lisette Meijer Lisette Meijer 1Eric J Snijder Eric J Snijder 2Lia van der Hoek Lia van der Hoek 3Ben Berkhout Ben Berkhout 3Willy M Bogers Willy M Bogers 1Judith M A van den Brand Judith M A van den Brand 4Ivanela Kondova Ivanela Kondova 1Babs E Verstrepen Babs E Verstrepen 5Ernst J Verschoor Ernst J Verschoor 1*
  • 1 Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC), Rijswijk, Netherlands
  • 2 Molecular Virology Laboratory, Leiden University Center of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
  • 3 Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 4 Division of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands, Netherlands
  • 5 Department of Viroscience, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Rotterdam, Netherlands

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Infection of an adult rhesus macaque with SARS-CoV-2 led to viral RNAemia in nose, throat, and lungs. The animal also presented extended fecal shedding of viral genomic and subgenomic messenger RNA and replication-competent virus for more than 3 weeks after infection. Positron emission tomography revealed increased intestinal glucose metabolism which was histologically related to inflammation of the ileum. These findings highlight the potential of the virus to cause gastrointestinal infections in macaques like this is also regularly observed in COVID-19 patients and substantiates the probability of virus transmission via the fecal-oral route. This study further adds the importance of nonhuman primates as a valuable animal model to study SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans.

    Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, rhesus macaque, Virus Shedding, PET-CT, intestinal inflammation

    Received: 03 Oct 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Böszörményi, Stammes, Zahra, Acar, Niphuis, Kayere, Meijer, Snijder, van der Hoek, Berkhout, Bogers, van den Brand, Kondova, Verstrepen and Verschoor. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ernst J Verschoor, Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC), Rijswijk, Netherlands

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.