World's First Development of 'Animal Model' Infected with Severe COVID-19

Korea Basic Science Institute Research Team
Expected to Greatly Aid Treatment and Vaccine Development
Previously Limited by Only Mild Infection Models Available

Establishment of the Most Ideal Animal Model for Severe COVID-19 Infection

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Korean researchers have succeeded for the first time in the world in reproducing severe COVID-19 infections, previously observed only in humans, in animals. This breakthrough is expected to greatly aid the development of treatments and vaccines targeting severe patients.

The Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) announced on the 28th that Dr. Jeong Hye-jong's research team at the Gwangju Center, in collaboration with Professor Hong Seong-chul's team at Jeonbuk National University Medical School, successfully developed a hamster infection model that accurately exhibits the symptoms of severe COVID-19.

Mild COVID-19 often presents symptoms similar to a cold and frequently resolves naturally. However, severe COVID-19 not only has a high fatality rate but also causes serious aftereffects such as brain fog, chronic fatigue, and loss of smell even after recovery.

Recently, as vaccination rates have increased, countries worldwide are shifting to "With COVID" policies. Nevertheless, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients often exhibit severe symptoms, so there is no room for complacency. Ultimately, the success of settling into the With COVID era depends on overcoming severe COVID-19 infections.

To treat severe COVID-19, an animal infection model that exhibits the severe symptoms seen in humans is necessary. Severe COVID-19 infection causes respiratory symptoms, right-lung pneumonia, fever, chills, and secondary infections where the virus spreads to the brain or liver. However, existing COVID-19 animal infection models only show respiratory symptoms and pneumonia, making them closer to mild COVID-19 or simple respiratory inflammation models rather than severe models. Even primate models, which are the most similar to human COVID-19, lack symptoms such as right-lung pneumonia, fever, and secondary infections, limiting research possibilities.

Based on excellent experimental animal infrastructure, the joint research team conducted studies on COVID-19 virus susceptibility and genetic/pathological characteristics in various small animals and developed the SH101 hamster model that faithfully reproduces severe COVID-19 infection symptoms seen in humans. When the SH101 hamster model was infected with the COVID-19 virus, symptoms such as right-lung pneumonia, fever, and secondary infections appeared exactly as in severe human COVID-19 cases.

Using this hamster model for vaccine and therapeutic development will not only clarify efficacy evaluation results and significantly shorten clinical trial periods but also enable elucidation of the causes of severe COVID-19 infections. This is expected to lead to the development of more innovative vaccines and treatments.

The research results were recently published online in the international academic journal 'Virulence.'

Dr. Jeong Hye-jong of KBSI stated, “The success in developing an animal infection model exhibiting the same severe COVID-19 symptoms as humans was largely due to the high-aged animal breeding facility,” adding, “Compared to primates, SH101 hamsters cost only about 1/100 for maintenance and have very short efficacy evaluation periods, so they are expected to actively contribute to the advancement of COVID-19 research domestically and internationally.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.