First Possible Case of Deer Spreading COVID-19 to a Human Discovered in Canada
Experts say the discovery raises a red flag, but it's not very alarming, either. The risk of deer transmitting the virus to humans remains quite low
BY DAC COLLINS | PUBLISHED MAR 3, 2022 2:04 PM
The first case of a whitetail deer contracting COVID-19 was confirmed last summer in Ohio. Scientists and public health officials were concerned not necessarily for the deer, but for the potential of transmission—potentially in a new strain—back to humans. Hunters, who come in closer contact with deer than just about anyone else, were a particular focus of concern, with state agencies even telling hunters to mask up while field dressing deer. Last fall, we dug into the risks surrounding whitetails and coronavirus, asking this exact question: Can deer give humans coronavirus? At the time, there was no evidence showing that humans can get COVID from live infected deer. Well, apparently, now there is.https://www.outdoorlife.com/hunting/...ovid-to-human/Last month, Canadian researchers discovered the first possible case of a whitetail deer spreading COVID-19 to a human. They shared a research paper explaining their discovery to bioRxiv on Feb. 25. After analyzing samples from 298 whitetail deer that were killed by hunters in southwestern Ontario during fall 2021, the researchers found that 17 of those deer tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, their analysis revealed that the deer had a unique and “highly divergent lineage” of the virus.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/02/healt...eer/index.html
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