Some hamsters are extremely susceptible to COVID-19 : Low doses make the animals sick and rapid tests can sometimes detect the infection

Golden Syrian hamsters are highly susceptible to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, a new study shows.

While the species is popular among pet owners, the results, posted April 20 at bioRxiv, are not cause for panic, says Anne Balkema-Buschmann, a veterinarian at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut in Riems, Germany. “The message of this paper is not that hamsters are ticking time bombs that can’t be kept in households any longer.”  But pinpointing just how sensitive the animals are to SARS-CoV-2 can help researchers fine-tune experiments that use hamsters to test potential treatments for COVID-19.