Many white-tailed deer in the United States are infected with the new crown virus

Source: People's Daily - People's Daily

A news report published on the website of the British magazine "Nature" recently said that USDA researchers conducted a new coronavirus antibody analysis study on the serum samples of some white-tailed deer in Michigan, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania, and found that 1/3 of the white-tailed deer sampled had new coronavirus-related antibodies in the body, of which 60% of the samples collected in Michigan detected antibodies. This indicates that they were infected with the new crown virus.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection published the study in preprint on July 29. The study was not peer-reviewed. Researchers reportedly tested 385 white-tailed deer blood samples collected in the four states cited between January and March 2021 and found that 40 percent detected antibodies related to the new crown virus. Further testing found that 3 of the samples collected in early 2020 detected related antibodies, and 1 of the samples collected in 2019 detected related antibodies. Combining the 2020 and 2021 samples, the proportion of white-tailed deer serum samples in the above regions of the United States detecting antibodies related to the new crown virus is 1/3.

There are about 30 million white-tailed deer in the United States. According to reports, previous experiments have shown that white-tailed deer can be infected with the new crown virus, and the virus can be transmitted in deer herds. National Geographic reported that it is likely that after the deer herd was infected with the virus, the immune system resisted the infection and antibodies appeared. A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson said that judging from the test results of the samples and the presence of a large number of white-tailed deer in the United States and their contact with people, white-tailed deer in other states may also be infected with the new crown virus.

Arinjie Banaji, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said that the research data showed that white-tailed deer were infected with the new crown virus at a certain point in time, but the researchers did not test the virus ribonucleic acid in these animals. One of the bigger questions now is how these white-tailed deer were infected. Banaji analysis showed that if these white-tailed deer had the same source of infection, other animals might also be exposed to this source of infection. Rickett, director of the Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases at Kansas State University in the United States, said the above results show that a secondary host for the new coronavirus has been established in the wild animals of the United States.

It is worth noting that according to the news on the official website of the National Deer Association in the United States on July 14, due to the impact of the new crown virus, Maryland and West Virginia completely stopped sampling testing of "chronic wasting diseases" for deer hunting in the fall of 2020. The Time News website, a local media outlet in Cumberland, west Of Maryland, said it was the first time that sampling testing efforts had been stopped since "chronic wasting diseases" were first detected in a Maryland deer herd in 2010. A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said in an email: "This is to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and protect the safety of staff and the public." The U.S. Military Fort Detrick Biological Laboratory is located in Maryland, not far from West Virginia.

At present, the route of infection of these deer herds with the new crown virus is still uncertain. The US media pointed out that due to the failure of the wastewater purification system, the Fort Detrick Biological Laboratory was temporarily closed in July 2019. National Geographic quoted USDA researchers as saying, "A variety of activities can expose deer to humans (and contract the coronavirus), including captive deer, field research, conservation efforts, wildlife tourism, wildlife rehabilitation, feeding and hunting." Other possibilities include passing through contaminated wastewater or contact with other infected species. ”

(Washington, August 10, 2019)

People's Daily (2021-08-11 16th edition)