Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, many reports of animals - dogs, cats, tigers - who have developed the infection have surfaced. According to an Indian Express report, in a recent study, researchers have published a comprehensive analysis of the relative potential risks faced by 410 animal species.
The findings of the investigation, drawn from a genomic study, are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
Which Animals Are At Higher Risk of COVID-19?
The study analysed data for 410 species of vertebrates, including varieties of birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Several primate species were found to be at the greatest level of risk for the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Some of these species, such as the Western Iowland gorilla and the Sumatran Orangutan, are critically endangered.
Species at a “very high risk” of infection include the chimpanzee and rhesus macaque. Blue-eyed black lemur and common bottlenose dolphin have been identified as species which are at “high risk” of developing the disease.
Previous studies have suggested that cats and dogs can contract the virus from humans, and that cats are at a greater risk of developing the infection than dogs.
However, this new study has indicated that cats, along with other domestic animals such as cattle and sheep, are at a medium degree of risk. Dogs, horses and pigs were found to have a low risk of contracting the illness.
How Did The Study Arrive at These Results?
The findings of the research are based on an analysis of ACE2 - an enzyme present on our cell surfaces that allows SARS-CoV-2 to infect human cells.
In human beings, there are 25 amino acids of ACE2 are necessary for the virus to bind with the cell. The scientists used a modelling procedure to evaluate how many of these amino acids are found in the ACE2 enzyme of some other species.
If the species being investigated showed a match with all 25 of these amino acid residues, it was predicted to be carrying the highest risk. The fewer the matches with the human ACE2, the lower is the risk of infection.
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