Respiratory disease in rhesus macaques inoculated with SARS-CoV-2

An outbreak of a novel coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2, causing respiratory disease and a ~2% case fatality rate started in Wuhan, China in December 2019(1,2). Following unprecedented global spread3, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Although data on disease in humans are emerging at a steady pace, certain aspects of the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 can only be studied in detail in animal models, where repeated sampling and tissue collection is possible. Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2 causes respiratory disease in infected rhesus macaques, with disease lasting 8–16 days. Pulmonary infiltrates, a hallmark of human disease, were visible in lung radiographs. High viral loads were detected in swabs from the nose and throat of all animals as well as in bronchoalveolar lavages; in one animal we observed prolonged rectal shedding. Taken together, the rhesus macaque recapitulates moderate disease observed in the majority of human cases. The establishment of the rhesus macaque as a model of COVID-19 will increase our understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease and will aid development and testing of medical countermeasures.