Alison J Pearks Wilkerson,
Emma C Teeling,
Jennifer L Troyer,
Gila Kahila Bar-Gal,
Melody Roelke,
Laurie Marker,
Jill Pecon-Slattery,
Stephen J O'Brien
A fatal epizootic of a related
coronavirus in captive African
cheetahs at Winston Safari park in
the early 1980s may offer
comparative insight into the
prospects for a coronavirus-based
epidemic [6].
.....
Within months of arrival
of the two infected cheetahs to
Winston Safari, other cheetahs in
the park fell ill. Retrospective
serum samples tested for
antibodies demonstrated that prior
to 1982 all cheetah serum were
negative, but within six months of
the Sacramento cheetahs’ arrival,
100% of the cheetahs had
seroconverted, most with titers
>1600 (Supplemental Figure S1).
Ninety percent of the 60 cheetahs
in the park developed disease
symptoms including jaundice,
diarrhea, weight loss, gingivitis,
hepatic and renal pathology.
With a
mortality of 60% within 2–3 years,
this was the most extreme
outbreak of coronavirus in any
species recorded.
....
The most likely scenario to explain these
results is that FCoV jumped from
the domestic cat into the cheetah.
Interestingly, the two cheetahs
exported from Sacramento to
Winston had visited the U.C. Davis
veterinary hospital, where many
domestic cat FCoV isolates were
originally isolated, suggesting an
opportunity for cross species
transmission.
