The coronavirus has likely spread widely among deer and possibly people, U.S.D.A. Said
Humans transmitted the coronavirus to white-tailed deer more than 100 times in late 2021 and early 2022, according to new research by the Animal Health Inspection Service and plant from the United States Department of Agriculture. The research also suggests that the virus likely spread widely among deer, mutated in animals, and they may have transmitted these modified versions of the virus to humans at least three times.
The findings, some of which were also published in the journal Nature Communications, add to concerns that deer, which are ubiquitous in the United States, could become a long-term animal reservoir for the virus and a potential source of new variants.
"Deer regularly interact with humans and are commonly found in human environments - near our homes, pets , sewage and waste," Xiu-Feng Wan, a zoonotic disease expert at the University of Missouri and author of the new paper, said in a statement. "The possibility that SARS-CoV-2, or any zoonotic disease, persists and evolves in wildlife populations may pose unique public health risks."
Scientists collected more than 11,000 samples from deer in 26 states and Washington, D.C. They found that a third had antibodies against coronavirus and 12% were actively infected.Credit... Genna Martin/San Francisco Chronicle, via Associated PressThere is no evidence that deer play a major role in spreading the virus to humans, but human-to-animal transmission of the virus raises several public health concerns.
First, the animal reservoir could allow variants that have disappeared from human populations to persist. Indeed, the new study confirms earlier reports that certain coronavirus variants, including Alpha and Gamma, continued to circulate in deer even after they became rare in humans.
Humans transmitted the coronavirus to white-tailed deer more than 100 times in late 2021 and early 2022, according to new research by the Animal Health Inspection Service and plant from the United States Department of Agriculture. The research also suggests that the virus likely spread widely among deer, mutated in animals, and they may have transmitted these modified versions of the virus to humans at least three times.
The findings, some of which were also published in the journal Nature Communications, add to concerns that deer, which are ubiquitous in the United States, could become a long-term animal reservoir for the virus and a potential source of new variants.
"Deer regularly interact with humans and are commonly found in human environments - near our homes, pets , sewage and waste," Xiu-Feng Wan, a zoonotic disease expert at the University of Missouri and author of the new paper, said in a statement. "The possibility that SARS-CoV-2, or any zoonotic disease, persists and evolves in wildlife populations may pose unique public health risks."
Scientists collected more than 11,000 samples from deer in 26 states and Washington, D.C. They found that a third had antibodies against coronavirus and 12% were actively infected.Credit... Genna Martin/San Francisco Chronicle, via Associated PressThere is no evidence that deer play a major role in spreading the virus to humans, but human-to-animal transmission of the virus raises several public health concerns.
First, the animal reservoir could allow variants that have disappeared from human populations to persist. Indeed, the new study confirms earlier reports that certain coronavirus variants, including Alpha and Gamma, continued to circulate in deer even after they became rare in humans.
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