While humans face the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic, animals have not remained untouched by the viral infection. A new study on animals in the US shows that one-third of white-tailed deer in the north-eastern part of the country have developed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, indicating they had been infected in one way or the other.
Researchers analysed the samples collected after the pandemic began in what could be the first detection of the virus in a wild animal population. Researchers targeted white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, for sero-surveillance based on evidence that these deer have receptors with a high affinity for SARS-CoV-2.
The study published in yet to be peer-reviewed preprint on bioRxiv states that antibodies were detected in 40 per cent of the samples suggesting that white-tailed deer have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
“It’s an intriguing observation but still needs to be interpreted with caution,” Nature quoted Aaron Irving, an infectious diseases researcher at Zhejiang University in Haining, China as saying.
Previous laboratory experiments had shown that the deer can become infected with SARS-CoV-2 and transmit the virus to other deer. The findings are raising concerns over the possibility of animal populations harbouring the SARS CoV-2 virus as reservoirs, even after humans are vaccinated. Researchers fear that these reservoirs of viruses could allow Covid-19 to spread to other species and back to people.
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