PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Courtney Woolsey
AU  - Viktoriya Borisevich
AU  - Abhishek N. Prasad
AU  - Krystle N. Agans
AU  - Daniel J. Deer
AU  - Natalie S. Dobias
AU  - John C. Heymann
AU  - Stephanie L. Foster
AU  - Corri B. Levine
AU  - Liana Medina
AU  - Kevin Melody
AU  - Joan B. Geisbert
AU  - Karla A. Fenton
AU  - Thomas W. Geisbert
AU  - Robert W. Cross
TI  - Establishment of an African green monkey model for COVID-19
AID  - 10.1101/2020.05.17.100289
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.05.17.100289
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/17/2020.05.17.100289.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/17/2020.05.17.100289.full
AB  - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for an unprecedented global pandemic of COVID-19. Animal models are urgently needed to study the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and to screen candidate vaccines and treatments. Nonhuman primates (NHP) are considered the gold standard model for many infectious pathogens as they usually best reflect the human condition. Here, we show that African green monkeys support a high level of SARS-CoV-2 replication and develop pronounced respiratory disease that may be more substantial than reported for other NHP species including cynomolgus and rhesus macaques. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in mucosal samples of all animals including feces of several animals as late as 15 days after virus exposure. Importantly, we show that virus replication and respiratory disease can be produced in African green monkeys using a much lower and more natural dose of SARS-CoV-2 than has been employed in other NHP studies.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.