Serological surveillance of potential wildlife reservoirs for the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2)

目前的新冠肺炎大流行是由SARS 2冠状病毒引起的，它可以直接从野生动物水库宿主或通过中间动物传播到人类体内。许多动物的细胞都有SARS2冠状病毒的受体血管紧张素转换酶2(ACE2)，几种家畜和野生动物，包括猫、雪貂和一些蝙蝠，都可以通过实验或自然感染该病毒。随着新冠肺炎大流行在人类中肆虐，造成毁灭性影响，该病毒感染并在自由生活的野生动物中生存的可能性很小，但很明显。然后，这些动物可能会成为病毒随后溢出到人类体内的蓄水池。病毒在这种宿主物种中的有效复制或扩增将增加重新感染人类的机会。此外，随着病毒适应其新的宿主而积累的病毒突变可能会产生后果不可预测的病毒。 检测人体抗体的血清学血液检测正在迅速发展，并用于检测以前接触过新冠肺炎的个体中病毒的比例和传播情况，然而，这样一种可以同时检测到在多种动物物种中接触新冠肺炎的测试还不存在。我们建议开发和验证一种通用检测方法，用于检测和量化野生动物血液或组织样本中的SARS2-CoV抗体。然后，这种测试将被用于启动对加拿大各地野生和家养物种感染热点的监测。这项提议汇集了成功开发了这种测试以检测各种蝙蝠物种中针对冠状病毒和疱疹病毒的抗体的研究人员，以及经常与各种野生和家养动物合作并对其进行采样的研究人员和组织。我们预计该项目将促成一个跨加拿大的协调网络，以监测野生动物中的新冠肺炎和可能的其他冠状病毒，作为识别和防止新冠肺炎疾病再次出现的预警系统。

The current COVID-19 pandemic is caused by the SARS2-coronavirus (SARS2-CoV) that spilled over into humans either directly from a wildlife reservoir host, or through an intermediary animal. The cells of many animals possess angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the receptor for SARS2-CoV, and several species of domestic and wild animals, including cats, ferrets and some species of bats, can be experimentally or naturally infected by the virus. As the COVID-19 pandemic rages through human populations with devastating effects, there is a small but distinct possibility that the virus may infect and establish itself in free living wildlife. These animals could then serve as a reservoir from which the virus may subsequently spill back into humans. Efficient replication or amplification of the virus in this reservoir species would increases chances reintroduction into humans. In addition, viral mutations accumulated as the virus adapts to its new reservoir may yield virus withunpredictable consequences. Serological blood tests to detect antibodies in humans are rapidly being developed and used to detect the proportion and spread of the virus in previously exposed individuals, However, such a test that can simultaneously detect COVID-19 exposure in a wide variety of animal species does not yet exist. We propose to develop and validate a universal test that would detect and quantify antibodies against SARS2-CoV in wildlife blood or tissue samples. Such a test would then be used for initiatingsurveillance of an array of wild and domestic species infection hotspots across Canada. This proposal brings together investigators that have successfully developed suchtests to detect antibodies against corona and herpesviruses in various bat species, as well as researchers and organizations that routinely work with and sample a wide range of wild and domestic animals. We expect this project will lead to a coordinated cross-Canada network to monitor COVID-19 and possibly other coronavirus' in wildlife to act as a warning system to identify and prevent the re-emergence of COVID-19 disease.