ABSTRACT
The current review was undertaken by collecting data through a thorough literature search in PubMed and Google Scholar in order to identify the relevant English-language articles published on animal models for COVID-19 research. The data was obtained from articles published between 2019 and 2021. After a comprehensive review of various available articles, this review outlines the available animal models for COVID-19 and their key roles in elucidating the pathogenesis, disease transmission, and host response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Reports from various preclinical trials have shown the use of several animal models such as mice, hamsters, ferrets, and nonhuman primates (NHPs) for studying the SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, availability of an ideal animal model would help researchers in assessing the efficacy of investigational drugs before they enter clinical trials. No single animal model delineates the totality of pathogenesis or predicts interventional responses faithfully as in humans. Therefore, defining animal models and their use is deemed as a prerequisite for conducting comparative studies of vaccines and therapeutics' efficacy so that the most promising ones advance to the next phase. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
It has not been very long since the SARS-CoV 2002 and MERS-CoV 2012 epidemics. Yet again, nature has introduced SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19, a highly virulent strain of the coronavirus that has its origin in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Primarily, a zoonotic infection, the virus probably found its way to humans through infected wild bats sold in the Wuhan local market. What makes the virus virulent, is its ability to infect multiple people at once through single index case. This has led to inability to contain the virus with ease posing a significant threat to national and international health-care resources and economies. The objective of this review is to highlight the key features of the novel CoV-19 infection as per existing data for better understanding of the disease.