Recent research underscores that SARS-CoV-2 has jumped repeatedly between species during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Denmark culled millions of mink to quell a source of zoonotic COVID-19 transmission, the passage of the SARS-CoV-2 virus between humans and animals. Last year, zoo animals including lions, tigers, and gorillas<\/a> got sick with the virus, presumably infected by their keepers. And earlier this year, pet hamsters were implicated in precipitating a new outbreak in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
Before the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>, coronaviruses were known to cause certain varieties of the common cold as well as diseases important in animal populations. As the pandemic has stretched on, it’s become clear that SARS-CoV-2 has a penchant for infecting a wide range of animal species.<\/p>\n
Deer and SARS-CoV-2<\/h3>\n
Last year, a Penn State University-led investigation into SARS-CoV-2 infection in white-tailed deer in Iowa found high rates tested positive for the virus. A prior study<\/a> by the US Department of Agriculture found 40% of deer tested had antibodies, a sign they had had previous exposure to the virus. And earlier this month, the Omicron variant was found in deer in New York. Altogether, SARS-CoV-2 has been found in white-tailed deer in 15 states.<\/p>\n
“White-tailed deer<\/a> are at the top of a list of animal species that have cellular receptor binding sites that allow them to be infected by SARS-CoV-2,” says Eman Anis, a veterinary microbiologist at the School of Veterinary Medicine. “If you think about what you need to have a reservoir, you need the species to be infected at a relatively high percentage and be able to spread the infection from one animal to another. All these criteria are met with what we are seeing in deer.”<\/p>\n
The findings<\/a> have been published on a preprint server, MedRXiv, and have not yet been subject to peer review, but are the first written reports of Delta and Alpha in deer, Bushman says.<\/p>\n
What’s next?<\/h3>\n
The two Alphas, the researchers noticed, were different enough to suggest that the virus had jumped from humans to deer two different times. And of note, there was no Alpha circulating in people at the time the Alpha was detected in deer\u2014Delta had unseated alpha as the dominant variant.<\/p>\n
“Alpha peaked in people in April and May,” Bushman says, “but we’re seeing it in deer in November, long after it’s gone in humans. It’s suggestive that the Alpha variant has been circulating in deer in Pennsylvania for quite a long time.”<\/p>\n
The Delta samples also fell into two distinct groups, “which looks like potentially two independent spillover events,” Gagne says. “Those sequences match more closely to what was circulating within people at the time of sampling.”<\/p>\n
Though the researchers urge caution in interpreting their results, the findings, together with those of other groups, offer evidence that “deer getting infected isn’t a one-off or rare event,” says Gagne.<\/p>\n
Deer aren’t generally thought of as animals that interact closely<\/a> with humans on a regular basis. It remains something of a mystery how humans might have repeatedly passed infections to the animals. People feeding deer, captive deer, or even contact with virus-laden wastewater are all being considered as possibilities.<\/p>\n
Source: Penn<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"