State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Carol Yu Centre for Infection, Department of Microbiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China.
bCentre for Virology, Vaccinology and Therapeutics, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China.
Emerg Microbes Infect. 2022 Dec;11(1):689-698. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2022.2040922.
During the investigation of a pet shop outbreak of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with probable hamster-to-human transmission, the environmental and hamster samples in epidemiologically linked pet shops were found positive for SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant AY.127 strains which are phylogenetically closely related to patients and reported European strains. This interspecies' spill-over has triggered transmission in 58 patients epidemiologically linked to three pet shops. Incidentally, three dwarf hamsters imported from the Netherlands and centralized in a warehouse distributing animals to pet shops were positive for SARS-CoV-2 spike variant phylogenetically related to European B.1.258 strains from March 2020. This B.1.258 strain almost disappeared in July 2021. While no hamster-to-human transmission of B.1.258-like strain was found in this outbreak, molecular docking showed that its spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) has a similar binding energy to human ACE2 compared to that of Delta variant AY.127. Therefore, the potential of this B.1.258-related spike variant for interspecies jumping cannot be ignored. The co-circulation of B.1.258-related spike variants with Delta AY.127, which originated in Europe and was not previously found in Hong Kong, suggested that hamsters in our wholesale warehouse and retail pet shops more likely have acquired these viruses in the Netherlands or stopovers during delivery by aviation than locally. The risk of human-to-hamster reverse zoonosis by multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants leading to further adaptive spike mutations with subsequent transmission back to humans cannot be underestimated as an outbreak source of COVID-19. Testing imported pet animals susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 is warranted to prevent future outbreaks.
在调查一家宠物店暴发的严重急性呼吸冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）事件时，发现与该宠物店有流行病学关联的环境和仓鼠样本中存在 SARS-CoV-2 Delta 变异株 AY.127 株，该变异株与患者和报道的欧洲株在系统进化上密切相关。这种种间溢出导致与三家宠物店有流行病学关联的 58 例患者发生传播。偶然的是，从荷兰进口并集中在一个仓库中，用于分发给宠物店的三只小型仓鼠对 SARS-CoV-2 刺突变异株呈阳性，该变异株与 2020 年 3 月来自欧洲的 B.1.258 株在系统进化上有关。该 B.1.258 株在 2021 年 7 月几乎消失。虽然在此次暴发中未发现 B.1.258 样株向人类的传播，但分子对接显示，其刺突受体结合域（RBD）与人类 ACE2 的结合能与 Delta 变异株 AY.127 相似。因此，这种 B.1.258 相关刺突变异株的种间跳跃潜力不容忽视。B.1.258 相关刺突变异株与 Delta AY.127 共同流行，后者起源于欧洲，以前在香港未发现，这表明我们的批发仓库和零售宠物店中的仓鼠更有可能在荷兰或航空运输途中获得这些病毒，而不是在本地获得。多种 SARS-CoV-2 变异株导致的人类向仓鼠反向人畜共患病的风险，以及随后的刺突突变导致再次传播给人类的风险，不能被低估为 COVID-19 的暴发源。有必要对易感 SARS-CoV-2 的进口宠物动物进行检测，以防止未来的暴发。
