OmniVira

A Novel Host of an Emerging Disease: SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) Kept Under Clinical Care in Brazil.

Asheley Henrique Barbosa Pereira1 Gabriela Oliveira Pereira1 Jaqueline Camargo Borges2 Victoria Luiza de Barros Silva3 Bárbara Hawanna Marques Pereira4 Thays Oliveira Morgado4 Joao Paulo da Silva Cavasani5 Renata Dezengrini Slhessarenko6 Richard Pacheco Campos3 Alexander Welker Biondo7 Renan de Carvalho Mendes8 Pedro Eduardo Brandini Néspoli8 Marcos Almeida de Souza5 Edson Moleta Colodel5 Daniel Guimarães Ubiali1 Valéria Dutra2 Luciano Nakazato9
Affiliations 9 institutions
  1. Setor de Anatomia Patológica (SAP), Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRuralRJ), BR-465 Km7, Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
  2. Laboratório de Microbiologia e Biologia Molecular Veterinária, UFMT, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa 2367, Bairro Boa Esperança, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil.
  3. Laboratório de Parasitologia Veterinária e Doenças Parasitárias dos Animais Domésticos e Silvestres, UFMT, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa 2367, Bairro Boa Esperança, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil.
  4. Setor de Animais Silvestres, Hospital Veterinário, UFMT, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa 2367, Bairro Boa Esperança, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil.
  5. Laboratório de Patologia Veterinária, UFMT, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa 2367, Bairro Boa Esperança, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil.
  6. Hospital Universitário Júlio Muller, UFMT, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa 2367, Bairro Boa Esperança, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil.
  7. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil.
  8. Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, UFMT, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa 2367, Bairro Boa Esperança, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil.
  9. Laboratório de Microbiologia e Biologia Molecular Veterinária, UFMT, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa 2367, Bairro Boa Esperança, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil. [email protected].
PMID36692797 DOI10.1007/s10393-022-01623-6 Year2022 Journal EcoHealth Ecohealth Languageeng Statusppublish

Abstract

A young male free-ranging giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) was found with paralysis of pelvic limbs on a highway and kept under human care. Radiographs confirmed multiple incomplete fractures in the thoracolumbar vertebrae. Due to the poor prognosis, euthanasia was chosen. The infection was established by viral SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in the rectal swab, spleen and kidney samples. Immunohistochemistry detected the viral nucleocapsid protein in sections of the lungs, liver, spleen, lymph nodes, and large intestine sections, and spike protein antigen in the lung tissue. Pilosa order species should be included as potential hosts of natural infection of SARS-CoV-2.

Supporting text Virus Host Location
COVID-19 467 Immunohistochemistry 11 Pilosa order 1 SARS-CoV-2 550 Spillback 11 Spillover 105 COVID-19 425 Xenarthra 2 Animals 1948 Brazil 50 Humans 1440 RNA, Viral 193 SARS-CoV-2 453 Vermilingua 1

Evidence records

1 total
Zoonotic Surveillance
1 records · 1 evidence types
Evidence type Viral Detection
1 records
OVE6690 Viral Detection
Key finding

SARS-CoV-2 RNA and viral proteins were detected in multiple tissues of a giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) kept under clinical care in Brazil.

Virus
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Host
giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla Natural host
Location
Brazil
Supporting text

A young male free-ranging giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) was found with paralysis of pelvic limbs on a highway and kept under human care. The infection was established by viral SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in the rectal swab, spleen and kidney samples. Immunohistochemistry detected the viral nucleocapsid protein in sections of the lungs, liver, spleen, lymph nodes, and large intestine sections, and spike protein antigen in the lung tissue.

Method
viral RNA detection | immunohistochemistry
Sample type
rectal swab | spleen | kidney | lungs | liver | lymph nodes | large intestine
Geographic raw
Brazil
Country inferred
BRA