Hong Kong: Sneezing hamsters probably sparked COVID outbreak, says study

Sneezing pet hamsters that were imported inside Hong Kong most likely spread the highly transmissible Delta variant of a novel Coronavirus, as well as drove the transmission, inducing the outbreak amongst the humans, new research found on February 7, Monday.  Researchers at the University of Hong Kong conducted a genomic evaluation of viral samples from the hamsters at a pet store and found that the rodent may have been behind the outbreak. They were also found to have the ability to transmit the virus on to people. 

“Pet hamsters probably carried the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 into Hong Kong and sparked a human COVID-19 outbreak, according to a genomic analysis of viral samples from the rodents,” the study published in the journal Nature stated on Monday. 

Hamsters triggered spread of Delta variant in about 50 people

The study claimed that it was in fact a pet shop full of hamsters that triggered the spread of the Delta variant in about 50 people, prompting the authorities to order the culling of the 2,000 hamsters in Hong Kong. “Hamsters are the second animal identified to have the ability to infect people,” the research found. Earlier similar instances of the transmission of Sars-CoV-2 were found to be driven by the farmed mink. A pet retailer employee had at the time examined the spread of the COVID-19 within the warehouse and had found the Minsks as the source of the infection. “Hamsters are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2,” the study on Monday, Feb. 7 stressed. 

Co-author of the study Leo Poon, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong meanwhile said, “to be fair to the hamsters, people are still much more likely to be infected by each other than by pets.” Marion Koopmans, a virologist at the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands stressed the need to monitor the hamster's trade in order to keep the COVID-19 spread in check. The hamsters were found to be spreading the COVID-19 as despite the strict zero-tolerance approach of the government in Hong Kong, an old pet-shop worker tested positive for Delta on 15 January, which the authorities stated was “bizarre.” 

Immediately later, more than 100 hamsters at the pet shop were tested, while another 500 at the warehouse were also checked for the virus. While the researchers found the diversity in the sequences, they also concluded that the hamsters were probably first infected in November 2021. The warehouse in Hong Kong had imported the animals from the Netherlands.