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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2023.01.07.523115

The Ecology of Viruses in Urban Rodents with a Focus on SARS-CoV-2

Fisher, A.·Airey, G.·Liu, Y.·Gemmell, M.·Thomas, J.·Bentley, E.·Whitehead, M.·Paxton, W.·Pollakis, G.·Paterson, S.·Viney, M.
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Abstract

Wild animals are naturally infected with a range of viruses, some of which may be zoonotic for humans. During the human COIVD pandemic there was also the possibility of rodents acquiring SARS-CoV-2 from people, so-called reverse zoonoses. To investigate this we have sampled rats (Rattus norvegicus) and mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) from urban environments in 2020 during the human COVID-19 pandemic. We metagenomically sequenced lung and gut tissue and faeces for viruses, PCR screened for SARS-CoV-2, and serologically surveyed for anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike antibodies. We describe the range of viruses that we found in these two rodent species. We found no molecular evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, though in rats we found lung antibody responses and evidence of neutralisation ability, that are consistent with rats being exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and / or exposed to other viruses that result in cross-reactive antibodies.

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Fisher, A., Airey, G., Liu, Y., Gemmell, M., Thomas, J., Bentley, E., Whitehead, M., Paxton, W., Pollakis, G., Paterson, S., Viney, M.. 2023-01-09. The Ecology of Viruses in Urban Rodents with a Focus on SARS-CoV-2. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.07.523115

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