Ferrets, cats and civets most susceptible to coronavirus infection after humans

(Center for Genomic Regulation) Humans, followed by ferrets and to a lesser extent cats, civets and dogs are the most susceptible animals to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The researchers calculated this by i) assessing the viral spike protein's affinity with variants of the ACE2 cell receptor across species and ii) analysing how efficient the coronavirus is at commandeering a cell's machinery once it has entered the cell.