A recent article published by the New York Times reports that 60% of deer killed in Iowa in December 2020 were found to have evidence of coronavirus in frozen lymph node samples. The concern of Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh, the director of the One Health Office in the CDC, is that deer may become reservoirs of the virus. If this occurs, there is a possibility that the virus could mutate and become transmissible to other animals or humans.
In the past, other coronavirus infections have been commonly reported in Iowa deer that have come in contact with infected humans. This new finding is unique as most of the other reported spillover COVID-19 infections to animals have been reported in domesticated or confined animals, whereas these early studies report infection of wild animals where the “virus could run free”. Various human-to-deer transmission modalities have been speculated; from unmasked infected hunters or farmers, through wastewater or discarded food, or an intermediate host.
The findings have sparked some epidemiologists’ interest to study the relationship between the proximity of humans to the wild environment, social interactions between deer, and viral transmission. The effort will help protect other vulnerable wildlife and identify any scenarios where there could be a threat to human health.
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