Syrian hamsters as a small animal model for SARS-CoV-2 infection and countermeasure development

Syrian hamsters are permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection, which is different from mouse model, because mice should be experimentally modified to express human ACE2, a SARS-CoV-2 receptor, for the usage as the infection model. A CT-imaging demonstrated that the viral infection causes pneumomediastinum in the inoculated hamsters. The authors also showed that the pre-infected hamsters exhibit a resistance against secondary SARS-CoV-2 infection, as well as that they produce effective neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.